Communication method, base station, radio communication node, and user equipment

ABSTRACT

A communication method, a base station, a radio communication node, and a user equipment are provided. A base station determines first resource configuration information, where the first resource configuration information is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are used when N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with a user equipment UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource. The base station sends the first resource configuration information to the UE, where the UE communicates with a corresponding transmission point by using respective radio resource sets of transmission points, and the respective radio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect. Therefore, a base station does not need to schedule a radio resource, thereby lowering a delay requirement on a backhaul link and eliminating interference.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/589,414, filed on May 8, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/656,995, filed on Mar. 13, 2015, now U.S. Pat.No. 9,674,831, which is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2012/081336, filed on Sep. 13, 2012. All of the afore-mentionedpatent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field ofcommunications technologies, and more specifically to a communicationmethod and device.

BACKGROUND

To increase a throughput of a UE (user equipment), in a macro cell, aplurality of small stations may be introduced to form a small cell, anda small cell can cover a hotspot region or cover a hole region. In thisway, when a UE moves to these regions covered by small cells, a serviceof the UE can be switched to these small cells to implement serviceoffload or coverage compensation. These small stations may be small basestations, micro base stations, home base stations, RRHs (remote radioheads), or relay stations.

For example, in an existing CA (carrier aggregation) technology, an RRHis located under coverage (for example, a hotspot region) of a basestation, and the RRH and the base station have different frequencies. Abackhaul manner of an optical fiber connection is adopted between theRRH and the base station, and an optical fiber has characteristics suchas a low delay and a large bandwidth. When a UE is under coverage of theRRH, the base station performs centralized scheduling, and the basestation and the RRH transmit data to the UE at the same time in acarrier aggregation manner, thereby increasing a throughput of the UE.

In another example, in an existing CoMP (coordinated multiple pointstransmission) technology, an RRH is located under coverage (for example,a hotspot region) of a base station, and the RRH and the base stationhave a same frequency. A backhaul manner of an optical fiber connectionis adopted between the RRH and the base station, and an optical fiberhas characteristics such as a low delay and a large bandwidth. When a UEis under coverage of the RRH the base station performs centralizedscheduling, and the base station and the RRH coordinate to transmit datato the UE to increase a throughput of the UE.

In the foregoing existing mechanisms, the base station performscentralized scheduling and processing. Specifically, a protocol layer ofthe base station includes: a PDCP (packet data convergence protocol)layer, an RLC (radio link control) layer, a MAC (medium access control)layer, a Phy (physical) layer, and the like. The base stationencapsulates a data packet and allocates a radio resource and thensends, through an optical fiber, the encapsulated data packet and theradio resource used by the RRH to the RRH. The rapid transmission of anoptical fiber has almost a zero delay, guaranteeing that the RRH sendsthe encapsulated data packet to the UE on a radio interface based on anorder that the base station schedules the RRH and the radio resource.Therefore, the UE is capable of decoding correctly, and confusion doesnot occur.

However, a backhaul link deployed with an optical fiber has high cost.For carriers who demand lower cost, a backhaul link deployed with anoptical fiber is an excessively ideal network. In existing networks ofmany carriers, most are ordinary backhaul links, such as an Ethernet, anxDSL (digital subscriber line), or microwave. An ordinary backhaul linkhas a larger delay (for example, 10 ms to 20 ms) and a smaller bandwidthcompared with an optical fiber backhaul link. If the CoMP or CAtechnology is adopted, data scheduled by a base station needs to betransmitted through a backhaul link to each RRH for subsequenttransmission. As delays from the base station to RRHs are different, thebase station practically cannot effectively control the moment ofsending data, which might cause that data of two RRHs is transmitted onone same radio resource, resulting in strong interference and further afailure in implementing CoMP or CA. Also, for CoMP or CA, data that abase station transfers to an RRH through a backhaul link is modulated,encoded, and the like, and a size of data becomes larger, which occupiesa larger bandwidth and forms a great challenge for an ordinary backhaullink.

Therefore, in an ordinary backhaul link, due to limits of delay andbandwidth for a backhaul link of a carrier, an RRH cannot be deployed toimplement multiple points transmission. The problem to be solved by thepresent disclosure is how to implement multiple points transmission bylowering a delay requirement on a backhaul link based on an existinglimited backhaul link.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method anddevice, so as to lower a delay requirement on a backhaul link.

According to a first aspect, a communication method is provided. Themethod includes: determining, by a base station, first resourceconfiguration information, where the first resource configurationinformation is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with auser equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in eachradio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource; and sending the first resource configurationinformation to the UE, so that the UE communicates with thecorresponding radio communication node by using the radio resource inthe N radio resource sets; where, the UE communicates with acorresponding transmission point by using respective radio resource setsof transmission points, the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points do not intersect, the respective radio resource setsof the transmission points include the N radio resource sets, and thetransmission points include the N radio communication nodes.

According to a second aspect, a communication method is provided. Themethod includes: receiving, by a first radio communication node,information that is about a second configuration parameter and sent byan operation, administration and maintenance OAM device; or,determining, by a first radio communication node, a second configurationparameter according to a first coordination request message receivedfrom a base station, and sending the information about a secondconfiguration parameter to the base station, where the secondconfiguration parameter includes a first radio resource set used forcommunication between the first radio communication node and a userequipment UE, and a radio resource in the first radio resource setincludes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource; and,scheduling, by the first radio communication node, the radio resource inthe first radio resource set to communicate with the UE, where the firstradio communication node is one of transmission points that communicatewith the UE, the UE communicates with the transmission point by using aradio resource in the respective radio resource sets of the transmissionpoints, the respective radio resource sets of the transmission points donot intersect, and the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points include the first radio resource set.

According to a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. Themethod includes: determining, by a base station, first resourceconfiguration information, where the first resource configurationinformation is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with auser equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in eachradio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource; and sending, by the base station,configuration information of corresponding radio resource sets among theN radio resource sets to the N radio communication nodes separately, sothat the N radio communication nodes schedule the radio resources inrespective radio resource sets to communicate with the UE, where the UEcommunicates with a corresponding transmission point by using respectiveradio resource sets of transmission points, the respective radioresource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

According to a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided. Themethod includes: receiving, by a first radio communication node,information that is about a fourth configuration parameter and sent byan operation, administration and maintenance OAM device; or,determining, by the first radio communication node, a fourthconfiguration parameter according to a second coordination requestmessage received from the base station, and sending information about afourth configuration parameter to the base station, where the secondcoordination request message carries information about a fourthconfiguration parameter configured by the base station for communicationbetween the first radio communication node and the UE; where, the fourthconfiguration parameter includes a first radio resource set used forcommunication between the first radio communication node and a userequipment UE, and a radio resource in the first radio resource setincludes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource; andscheduling, by the first radio communication node, the radio resource inthe first radio resource set to communicate with the UE, where the firstradio communication node is one of transmission points that communicatewith the UE; communicating, by the UE, with the transmission point byusing a radio resource in the respective radio resource set of thetransmission point, where the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points do not intersect, and the respective radio resourcesets of the transmission points include the first radio resource set.

According to a sixth aspect, a base station is provided, The basestation includes: a determining unit, configured to determine firstresource configuration information, where the first resourceconfiguration information is used for indicating N radio resource setsthat are used when N radio communication nodes separately performcommunication with a user equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radioresource in each radio resource set among the N radio resource sets isused for the radio communication node corresponding to each radioresource set to schedule the UE, and the radio resource includes a timedomain resource and/or a frequency domain resource; a sending unit,configured to send the first resource configuration informationdetermined by the determining unit to the UE, so that the UEcommunicates with the corresponding radio communication node by usingthe radio resource in the N radio resource sets; where, the UEcommunicates with a corresponding transmission point by using respectiveradio resource sets of a transmission points, the respective radioresource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

According to a seventh aspect, a radio communication node is provided.The radio communication node includes: a receiving unit, configured toreceive information that is about a second configuration parameter andsent by a base station or an operation, administration and maintenanceOAM device; a determining unit, configured to determine a secondconfiguration parameter according to the information that is about asecond configuration parameter and received by the receiving unit; wherethe second configuration parameter includes a first radio resource setused for communication between the first radio communication node and auser equipment UE, and a radio resource in the first radio resource setincludes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource; ascheduling unit, configured to schedule the radio resource in the firstradio resource set determined by the determining unit to communicatewith the UE; where the first radio communication node is one oftransmission points that communicate with the UE, the UE communicateswith the transmission point by using a radio resource in the respectiveradio resource set of the transmission point, the respective radioresource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, and therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include thefirst radio resource set.

According to an eighth aspect, a user equipment is provided. The userequipment includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive firstresource configuration information sent by a base station; and

-   -   a controlling unit, configured to:    -   acquire the first resource configuration information received by        the receiving unit, where the first resource configuration        information is used for indicating N radio resource sets that        are used when N radio communication nodes separately perform        communication with a user equipment UE, N is a positive integer,        a radio resource in each radio resource set among the N radio        resource sets is used for the radio communication node        corresponding to each radio resource set to schedule the UE, and        the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or a        frequency domain resource; and    -   control the receiving unit to communicate with a transmission        point by using a radio resource in respective radio resource        sets of transmission points, where the respective radio resource        sets of the transmission points do not intersect, the respective        radio resource sets of the transmission points include the N        radio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N        radio communication nodes.

In the foregoing solutions, a base station delivers configurationinformation of a radio resource set used by a radio communication nodethat participates in multiple points transmission to a UE, radioresource sets used by the base station and the radio communication nodedo not intersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality of radiocommunication nodes do not intersect, and a radio resource in the radioresource set is used for a radio communication node corresponding to theradio resource set to schedule the UE. In this way, a base station doesnot need to schedule a radio resource during communication between a UEand a radio communication node so that the UE exchanges information withthe base station and the radio communication nodes on correspondingradio resources separately. Therefore, multiple points transmission canalso be implemented even when a backhaul link has a large delay, therebylowering a delay requirement on a backhaul link.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure more clearly, the following briefly introduces theaccompanying drawings that describe the embodiments. Apparently, theaccompanying drawings in the following description show merely someembodiments of the present disclosure, and a person of ordinary skill inthe art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawingswithout creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a network systemcan be implemented according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG 3 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a communication method according otherembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a structural block diagram of a user equipment according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 20 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a structural block diagram of a user equipment according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 25 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparently, thedescribed embodiments are merely a part rather than all of theembodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments obtained bya person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of thepresent disclosure without creative efforts shall fall within theprotection scope of the present disclosure.

The technical solutions of the present disclosure may be applied tovarious communications systems, such as a global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), a code division multiple access (CDMA) system,wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), general packet radioservice (GPRS), and long term evolution (LTE).

A user equipment (UE) may also be referred to as a mobile terminal (ormobile station), a mobile user equipment, and the like, and cancommunicate with one or more core networks by using a radio accessnetwork (for example, RAN, radio access network). The user equipment maybe a mobile terminal, for example, a mobile phone (or referred to as a“cellular” phone) or a computer having a mobile terminal, for example, aportable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-embedded or vehicle-mountedmobile apparatus, which exchange speech and/or data with the radioaccess network. In addition, a UE may have one or more MAC entities,which is not limited in the present disclosure. Preferably, a UE has aplurality of MAC entities, and each MAC entity performs schedulingduring communication between a UE and one transmission point (a basestation or a radio communication node).

A base station may be a base station (BTS) in GSM or CDMA, may also be abase station (e.g., NodeB) in WCDMA, and may further be an evolved NodeB(eNB or e-NodeB) in LTE, which is not limited in the present disclosure.However, for ease of description, the following embodiments aredescribed by using an eNB as an example.

A radio communication node may be a macro base station, a small basestation or a micro base station, may further be a relay station, a homebase station, or a node only having a part or all of user planeprocessing functions, and may also be a terminal in D2D (device todevice) communication, and the like.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a network systemaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented.It should be noted that the network system in FIG. 1 is only onescenario capable of implementing the present disclosure given forclearer description of the embodiment of the present disclosure, ratherthan to limit the application scope of the embodiment of the presentdisclosure. For example, an eNB 101 and radio communication nodes 102,103, and 104 are described in FIG. 1. However, other network systemswhere the embodiment of present disclosure is applicable may includemore or fewer base stations or may include more or fewer radiocommunication nodes.

A plurality of UEs 105 and 106 may exist under coverage of a cell 100.Although only two UEs 105 and 106 are described in FIG. 1 for brevity, anetwork system where the embodiment of the present disclosure isapplicable may include more or fewer UEs.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station and theradio communication nodes may all have the same frequency, or all havedifferent frequencies, or a part have the same frequency and a part havedifferent frequencies, which is not limited in the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The same frequency means that center frequencies ofworking frequencies are the same. Different frequencies mean that centerfrequencies of working frequencies are different. For example, when theeNB 101 and the radio communication node 102 have the same frequency,and the center frequency is F1. The radio communication node 103 and theradio communication node 102 have different frequencies, and the centerfrequency of the radio communication node 103 is F2. Alternatively, theradio communication node 102 and the radio communication node 103 havethe same frequency F1, the eNB 101 and the radio communication node 102have different frequencies, and the center frequency of the eNB 101 isF2. Alternatively, the eNB 101, the radio communication node 102, andthe radio communication node 103 have the same frequency F1.Alternatively, the eNB 101, the radio communication node 102, and theradio communication node 103 have different frequencies, the centerfrequency of the eNB 101 is F1, the center frequency of the radiocommunication node 102 is F2, and the center frequency of the radiocommunication node 103 is F3. It should be understood that the foregoingexample is only exemplary, rather than to limit the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

In addition, the network system in FIG. 1 may further include a smallstation that does not have a radio resource scheduling function toparticipate in multiple points transmission, for example, an RRH (remoteradio head). The small station that does not have a radio resourcescheduling function is connected to a base station or radiocommunication node that has a radio resource scheduling function and isscheduled by the base station or the radio communication node.

It should be noted that, the foregoing embodiment and the illustrationthereof are also applicable to other embodiments of the presentdisclosure, which are no longer elaborated in the following.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The method in FIG. 2 is executedby a base station (for example, an eNB 101 in FIG. 1).

201. The base station determines first resource configurationinformation, where the first resource configuration information is usedfor indicating N radio resource sets that are used when N radiocommunication nodes separately perform communication with a userequipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in each radioresource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

202. Send the first resource configuration information to the UE, sothat the UE communicates with the corresponding radio communication nodeby using the radio resource in the N radio resource sets.

The UE communicates with a corresponding transmission point by using arespective radio resource set of a transmission point, the respectiveradio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

During implementation of multiple points transmission, the transmissionpoints may include the base station, and at this time, the radioresource set used by the base station to communicate with the UE andrespective radio resource sets corresponding to the N radiocommunication nodes do not intersect, and when N>1, the respective radioresource sets corresponding to the N radio communication nodes also donot intersect. Of course, it is also possible that the transmissionpoints do not include the base station, and at this time, the Nrespective radio resource sets corresponding to N radio communicationnodes for implementing multiple points transmission do not intersect. Ofcourse, the transmission point in the embodiment of the presentdisclosure may further include a small station that does not have aradio resource scheduling function to participate in multiple pointstransmission, for example, an RRH. It should be noted that thisillustration is also applicable to other embodiments.

In the foregoing solution, the base station delivers configurationinformation of a respective radio resource set used by a radiocommunication node to a radio communication node that participates inmultiple points transmission to the UE. The radio resource sets used bythe transmission points (including the radio communication node) thatparticipate in multiple points transmission do not intersect, and aradio resource in the radio resource set is used for a radiocommunication node corresponding to the radio resource set to schedulethe UE. Therefore, as a radio communication node is capable ofscheduling a radio resource, that is, has a resource schedulingfunction, during communication between the UE and the radiocommunication node, the radio communication node does not need toreceive, through a backhaul link, a scheduling command sent by the basestation to communicate with the UE, but communicates with the UE byscheduling a radio resource, thereby lowering a delay requirement on thebackhaul link. In addition, as radio resource sets used by the basestation and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect, interference is avoided.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first resource configurationinformation may indicate N radio resource sets corresponding to N radiocommunication nodes in an explicit manner, that is, by using the firstresource configuration information, the UE acquires directly the N radioresource sets and to which of the N radio communication nodes each radioresource set corresponds. The first resource configuration informationmay also indicate the N radio resource sets corresponding to the N radiocommunication nodes in an implicit manner. For example, by using thefirst resource configuration information, the UE acquires directly the Nradio resource sets and that N−1 of the N radio resource sets correspondto N−1 of the N radio communication nodes, respectively. Therefore, theUE can acquire the rest one radio resource set to correspond to the restone radio communication node. It should be understood that disclosureembodiment does not limit the manner in which the first resourceconfiguration information indicates the N radio resource setscorresponding to the N radio communication nodes. It should be notedthat this illustration is also applicable to other embodiments.

Optionally, as another embodiment, a radio resource in a radio resourceset may carry at least one of the following signs: an uplink or downlinksign, to indicate a direction of using the radio resource; a sign thatthe radio resource is used for physical data channel transmission,and/or a sign that the radio resource is used for physical controlchannel transmission; a sign of an activation time of the radioresource, and the like. For example, the sign of an activation time ofthe radio resource may represent a time start point that a base stationor a radio communication point that participates in multiple pointstransmission coordinates transmission, and time can be configured byreferring to time of the base station.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station may broadcast thefirst resource configuration information in a form of a system broadcastmessage, or the base station may carry the first resource configurationinformation in RRC (radio resource control) signaling. The embodiment ofthe present disclosure does not limit a form that the base station sendsthe first resource configuration information. Further, the firstresource configuration information may be further used to indicateinformation about a radio resource set used for communication betweenthe base station and the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station may sendconfiguration information of a reference signal to the UE. Theconfiguration information is configuration information of a referencesignal used by the N radio communication nodes, and reference signalsused by the base station and the N radio communication nodes areconfigured differently. Further, the base station can further sendconfiguration of a reference signal used by the base station to the UE.For example, the configuration of the reference signal may be a PCI(physical cell identity), and a correspondence exists between the PCIand the configuration of the reference signal. The UE can learn theconfiguration of the reference signal according to the received PCI.Alternatively, the correspondence between the PCI and the configurationof the reference signal may be preset by the base station. It should beunderstood that the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limita form that the base station sends configuration information of thereference signal to the UE.

Further, the reference signal may include at least one of the following:a CRS (common reference signal), a CSI-RS (channel stateinformation-reference signal), a DMRS (demodulation reference signal),and an SRS (sounding reference signal). The configuration of thereference signal may be at least one of the following configurationparameters: port information of the reference signal, subframeconfiguration of the reference signal, a frequency of the referencesignal, a period of the reference signal, and the like. For example, inFIG. 1, the period of the reference signal CSI-RS used for communicationbetween the eNB 101 and a UE 105 is 20 ms, the period of the referencesignal CSI-RS used for communication between a radio communication node102 and the UE 105 is 30 ms, and the period of the reference signalCSI-RS used for communication between a radio communication node 103 andthe UE 105 is 50 ms.

Optionally, as another embodiment, after step 201, the base station mayserve as a main coordination point to coordinate a first configurationparameter of the radio communication node, so as to determine aconfiguration parameter used by each radio communication node. The firstconfiguration parameter may be at least one of the following: a radioresource set corresponding to each radio communication node,configuration of a reference signal, configuration of a control channel,a correspondence between the radio resource and a radio bearer, acorrespondence between the radio resource and an evolved packet switchEPS bearer, scrambling code parameter configuration, a node identifiercorresponding to each radio communication node, and the like.

For example, the base station may coordinate the first configurationparameter by adopting a “command type”, and separately sendcorresponding information about the first configuration parameter to theN radio communication nodes. That is, after determining configurationparameters used by N intra-frequency radio communication nodes thatparticipate in multiple points transmission, the base station separatelysends the configuration parameters to the N intra-frequency radiocommunication nodes. In addition, an identifier of the UE may be carriedin information about the first configuration parameter.

In another example, the base station may coordinate the firstconfiguration parameter by adopting a “recommendation type”. The basestation may separately send a corresponding first coordination requestmessage to M1 radio communication nodes, receive information about firstconfiguration parameters determined and sent by M2 radio communicationnodes among the M1 radio communication nodes according to the firstcoordination request message, and determine N radio communication nodesamong the M2 radio communication nodes to participate in multiple pointstransmission, where M1 and M2 are positive integers and M1≥M2≥N.Further, the first coordination request message may carry informationabout a first configuration parameter configured by the base station forthe M1 radio communication nodes to separately communicate with the UE.The M1 radio communication nodes may feedback an acknowledgement messageor a non-acknowledgement message (ACK/NACK). The base station maydetermine the N radio communication nodes among the M2 radiocommunication nodes that feed back acknowledgement information toparticipate in multiple points transmission. Specifically, the radiocommunication node can perform selection in the first configurationparameter that the base station recommends to use, and carry informationabout a selected first configuration parameter in the acknowledgementmessage returned to the base station. Alternatively, the radiocommunication node can also reject the first configuration parameterthat the base station recommends to use, and carry the firstconfiguration parameter that the radio communication node recommends touse in the acknowledgement message returned to the base station.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 201, the base station canreceive information that is about first configuration parameters of Lradio communication nodes and sent by an OAM (operation, administrationand maintenance) device, and determine N radio communication nodes amongthe L radio communication nodes, where L is a positive integer and L≥N.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 201, one of the N radiocommunication nodes may serve as a main coordination point to coordinatefirst configuration parameters of other radio communication nodes.Specifically, the base station may receive information about firstconfiguration parameters of Z1 radio communication nodes sent by one ofthe N radio communication nodes, and determine N radio communicationnodes among the Z1 radio communication nodes to participate in multiplepoints transmission, where Z1 is a positive integer and Z1≥N. For afirst configuration parameter coordination manner in which one of the Nradio communication nodes serves as a main coordination point, referencecan be made to a first configuration parameter coordination manner inwhich the base station serves as a main coordination point, which is nolonger elaborated.

Further, the base station can send an indication message of anidentifier and/or service QoS (quality of service) of the UE formultiple points transmission to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. Service QoS of the UE isused for reference in resource coordination. A QoS parameter of aservice at least includes one of bit rate information, service priorityinformation, and a service type.

The embodiment of the present disclosure coordinates a radio resource,so that radio resource sets used for communication between the radiocommunication node and the base station that participate in multiplepoints transmission and the UE do not intersect, and the base station orthe radio communication node that participates in multiple pointstransmission schedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource, forexample, sends downlink data to the UE accurately based on a scheduledmoment. Therefore, interference can be effectively eliminated. Also,multiple points transmission is implemented for the UE, so that athroughput of the UE can be effectively increased.

It should be understood that the foregoing coordination manner isexemplary illustration, and the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the first configuration parameter coordination mannerbetween the base station and the radio communication point. That is, theembodiment of the present disclosure is always applicable no matter howthe first configuration parameter is coordinated.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before determining first resourceconfiguration information, the base station can determine N radiocommunication nodes among N1 radio communication node according to ameasurement report sent by the UE to participate in multiple pointstransmission, where N1 is a positive integer and N1≥N. The measurementreport at least includes one of the following: signal strength of atleast N radio communication nodes and signal quality of the at least Nradio communication nodes. The base station can further determine the Nradio communication nodes according to at least one of the following: amoving speed of the UE, load of the N radio communication nodes, a QoSparameter of the UE, service information of the UE, and the like. Thebase station can further determine N radio communication nodes accordingto a stored access record of the UE, where the access record includes anaccess frequency of the UE and/or a CSG (closed subscriber group) cellof the UE, and the like. Further, the UE can carry information of a CSGcell in an RRC approximate indication message and report the informationto the base station.

For example, if signal strength and/or signal quality of a radiocommunication node 1 measured by the UE reaches a preset threshold,and/or load of a radio communication node 1 is lower than a presetthreshold, the base station can select the radio communication node 1 asone of the N radio communication nodes that participate in multiplepoints transmission. In another example, if time that the UEcontinuously uses a service in a current service cell exceeds the presetthreshold, and/or a current moving speed of the UE is lower than thepreset threshold, and the like, the base station can select the currentservice cell as one of the N radio communication nodes that participatein multiple points transmission. In yet another example, the accessrecord of the UE indicates that a radio communication node 2 is a cellthat the UE often accesses, and/or a radio communication node 2 is a CSGcell of the UE, and the like, the base station can select the radiocommunication node 2 as one of the N radio communication nodes thatparticipate in multiple points transmission. In yet another example,when a service attribute of the UE shows that the UE currently has aplurality of radio bearers to transmit, and/or the QoS parameter of theUE shows a case that the radio bearer of the UE is a Non-GBR (nonguaranteed bit rate) service, the base station can decide to performmultiple points transmission for the UE and determine the N radiocommunication nodes that participate in multiple points transmission.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE and can select a more suitable radiocommunication point to communicate with the UE.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit a manner in which the base station determines a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmission. Itshould be further noted that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit a sequence of resource coordination for the N radiocommunication nodes that participate in multiple points transmissiondetermined by the base station.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station can send to the UEat least one of the following information: first identifier information,instruction information, second identifier information, third identifierinformation, and information about scrambling code parameterconfiguration.

The first identifier information may be used for indicating acorrespondence between N radio resource sets and reference signals usedby N radio communication nodes. Further, the UE measures a downlinkreference signal on a corresponding downlink radio resource or sends acorresponding uplink reference signal on a corresponding uplink radioresource according to the correspondence; and/or measures a channelinstruction according to the reference signals, and separately sends ameasurement result to the foregoing N radio communication nodes oncorresponding radio resources according to the correspondence; and/orseparately performs channel estimation on corresponding radio resourcesby using the reference signals according to the correspondence, anddecodes information on corresponding radio resources according to achannel estimation result. Further, the first identifier information mayfurther be used for identifying a correspondence between a base stationand a reference signal used by the base station.

The instruction information may be used to instruct the UE to receive acorresponding control channel according to a type of the control channelof the base station or the radio communication node. For example, the UEreceives a control channel by adopting an ePDCCH (evolved physicaldownlink control channel,) or PDCCH manner according to the instructioninformation. Preferably, when the type of the control channel is ePDCCH,the instruction information may further include frequency domainconfiguration information of the ePDCCH, for example, configuration of aPRB (physical resource block). The UE can receive a control channel inan ePDCCH manner from a corresponding frequency domain positionaccording to configuration.

The second identifier information may be used for indicating acorrespondence between N radio resource sets and a transmission channel,a radio bearer or an EPS (evolved packet switch) bearer. Further, thesecond identifier information may be further used for indicating acorrespondence between a radio resource set used by the base station anda transmission channel, a radio bearer, or an EPS bearer.

The third identifier information may be used for indicating identifiersof the base station and the N radio communication nodes. Further, theidentifiers of the base station and the N radio communication nodesrespectively correspond to the radio resource sets used by the basestation and the N radio communication nodes in a one-to-one manner. Thefirst identifier information may be used for indicating correspondencesbetween the identifiers of the N radio communication nodes and referencesignals used by the N radio communication nodes. The second identifierinformation may be used for indicating a correspondence betweenidentifiers of the N radio communication nodes and a transmissionchannel, a radio bearer, or an EPS bearer.

The information about scrambling code parameter configuration may beused for instructing the UE to separately descramble a downlinkreference signal or a downlink physical channel, and/or used forinstructing the UE to separately scramble an uplink reference signal oran uplink physical channel. The foregoing downlink reference signal,downlink physical channel, uplink reference signal or uplink physicalchannel belong to the foregoing base station or the foregoing N radiocommunication nodes.

Specifically, the base station or the radio communication node can senda reference signal on a corresponding radio resource. The UE can measurea reference signal on a radio resource based on a configuredcorrespondence between the reference signal and the radio resource. Forexample, the base station or the radio communication node can send aCSI-RS on the radio resource (for example, a specific subframe or PRB),and the UE measures the CSI-RS to obtain a CSI (channel stateinformation) measurement result of the radio resource. Alternatively,the base station or the radio communication node can send a DMRS on theradio resource (for example, a specific subframe or PRB), and the UEmeasures a DMRS and uses a measurement result to decode a signal on theradio resource. Alternatively, the UE can send an SRS corresponding tothe radio resource on the radio resource (for example, a specificsubframe or PRB).

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the form that the base station sends the foregoinginformation to the UE and the sending sequence.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before determining first resourceconfiguration information, the base station can establish an RRCconnection with the UE, and separately send a connection configurationparameter of the UE to the UE and the N radio communication nodes, wherethe connection configuration parameter is used for enabling the UE toseparately establish a user plane connection with the N radiocommunication nodes, and the connection configuration parameter at leastincludes a physical layer configuration parameter and a MAC layerconfiguration parameter. Further, the connection configuration parametermay further include a configuration parameter of an RLC layer or a PDCPlayer. Specifically, the base station delivers configuration of aphysical layer and a MAC layer corresponding to a DRB (data radiobearer) to the UE, and the base station sends the configuration of thephysical layer and the MAC layer corresponding to the DRB to the radiocommunication node.

In the prior art, a macro base station and a plurality of small basestations can be deployed in an integrated manner to increase a systemcapacity through a gain from cell splitting. Specifically, the UE ishanded over every time entering a small cell under a small base stationfrom a macro cell under a macro base station, so as to offload data to asmall base station, thereby implementing data offload. When leaving asmall cell under a small base station to enter a macro cell under amacro base station, the UE is handed over again, and the macro basestation provides a service, thereby guaranteeing service continuity.However, a problem of increased number of handovers is caused. When moresmall base stations are deployed, the number of handovers grows larger,and handover performance decreases.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, because multiple pointstransmission is adopted, downlink RRC signaling and/or data can betransmitted from the base station or the radio communication point tothe UE, and/or the base station or the radio communication pointreceives uplink RRC signaling and/or data from the UE. As a preferablesolution, RRC signaling or an SRB (signaling radio bearer) is sentand/or received by the base station, and specifically, the base stationand the UE may directly perform transmission, or the radio communicationnode performs forwarding, so as to keep an RRC connection of the UE at amacro base station. When the UE traverses a coverage boundary of a radiocommunication node under coverage of the base station, as the RRCconnection is always kept at the base station, a handover is avoided andthe number of handovers is lowered.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the radio communication node canperform segmentation processing, according to segmentation informationfed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the radio communicationnode, on transmission data at the RLC entity of the radio communicationnode.

Optionally, as another embodiment, multiple points transmission for theUE may be performed by the base station and one or more radiocommunication nodes, or by a plurality of radio communication nodeswhile the base station does not participate in multiple pointstransmission. For example, the base station and the UE transmit RRCsignaling and data DRB 1 on a corresponding radio resource, and a radiocommunication node 104 and the UE transmit data DRB 2 on a correspondingradio resource. Alternatively, the base station and the UE transmit RRCsignaling on a corresponding radio resource, the radio communicationnode 102 and the UE transmit data DRB 1 on a corresponding radioresource, and the radio communication node 103 and the UE transmit dataDRB 2 on a corresponding resource. Alternatively, the base station andthe UE transmit RRC signaling and data DRB 1 on a corresponding radioresource, the radio communication node 104 and the UE transmit data RRCsignaling and data DRB 2 on a corresponding radio resource.Alternatively, an RRC connection is established between the base stationand the UE, the radio communication node 102 and the UE transmit RRCsignaling and data DRB 1 on a corresponding radio resource, and theradio communication node 103 and the UE transmit data DRB 2 on acorresponding resource. In addition, the base station may send an RRCmessage to the UE directly or indirectly (for example, first sends theRRC message to the first radio communication node).

In another example, a subframe 2 and a subframe 6 on a time domain arean uplink radio resource and a downlink radio resource used forcommunication between the radio communication node 102 and the UE 105,respectively. The UE sends uplink signaling and/or uplink data to theradio communication node 102 on the subframe 2, whereas the UE receives,on the subframe 6, downlink signaling and/or downlink data sent by theradio communication node 102.

In yet another example, a PRB 10 and PRB 12 on a frequency domain are anuplink radio resource and a downlink radio resource used forcommunication between the radio communication node 103 and the UE 105,respectively. The UE sends uplink signaling and/or uplink data to theradio communication node 103 on the PRB 10, whereas the UE receives, onthe PRB 12, downlink signaling and/or downlink data sent by the radiocommunication node 103. The signaling herein refers to RRC signaling,which is transmitted on an SRB, whereas data is transmitted on a DRB.

Therefore, the base station and/or the radio communication node and theUE transmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, atime slot or subframe). Alternatively, the base station and/or the radiocommunication node and the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequencydomain resource (for example, a PRB). Therefore, the throughput of theUE can be effectively increased.

In addition, for an inter-frequency scenario, radio resource sets of alltransmission points that participate in multiple points transmission maybe time domain resource sets that do not intersect. A transmission pointthat participates in multiple points transmission may be a base stationand at least one radio communication node, and may also be a pluralityof radio communication nodes. A small station that does not have a radioresource scheduling function may be also included to participate inmultiple points transmission, for example, an RRH, and the small stationthat does not have radio resource scheduling is connected to a basestation or a radio communication node that has a radio resourcescheduling function and is scheduled by the base station or the radiocommunication node.

That a base station and one radio communication node serve astransmission points that participate in multiple points transmission isused as an example, the base station and the radio communication nodehave different frequencies, that is, center frequencies of workingfrequencies are different. The base station and the radio communicationnode perform coordination on the time domain, and then separatelyschedule the UE on a corresponding time domain resource, so that thethroughput of the UE is increased. Alternatively, when a base stationwith large coverage transmits RRC signaling and a radio communicationnode in a hotspot region transmits a DRB, as the RRC signalingconnection is always at the base station, the number of handovers can belowered, and handover performance is enhanced.

It should be understood that the foregoing solutions of performingcoordination on the configuration parameter and determining aparticipant radio communication node are also applicable to aninter-frequency scenario, which are no longer described herein.

A non-limiting example of a communication method in the embodiment ofthe present disclosure is further described in further detail in thefollowing in combination with specific embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure. The method in FIG. 3 is executedby a radio communication node (for example, a radio communication node102 or a radio communication node 103 or a radio communication node 104in FIG. 1) and corresponds to a method in FIG. 2, and therefore repeateddescription for the embodiment in FIG. 2 is properly omitted.

301. A first radio communication node receives information that is abouta second configuration parameter and sent by an operations,administration and maintenance OAM device; or a first radiocommunication node determines a second configuration parameter accordingto a first coordination request message received from a base station,and send information about the second configuration parameter to thebase station, where the first coordination request message carriesinformation about the second configuration parameter configured by thebase station for communication between the first radio communicationnode and a UE.

The second configuration parameter includes a first radio resource setused for communication between the first radio communication node and auser equipment UE, and a radio resource in the first radio resource setincludes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource.

302. The first radio communication node schedules the radio resource inthe first radio resource set to communicate with the UE.

The first radio communication node is one of transmission points thatcommunicate with the UE, the UE communicates with the transmission pointby using a radio resource in the respective radio resource set of thetransmission point, the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points do not intersect, and the respective radio resourcesets of the transmission points include the first radio resource set.

The embodiment of the present disclosure coordinates a radio resource,so that radio resource sets used by the base station and the radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used by aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect. A base stationor a radio communication node that participates in multiple pointstransmission schedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource.Therefore, as a radio communication node is capable of scheduling aradio resource, that is, has a resource scheduling function, duringcommunication between the UE and the radio communication node, the radiocommunication node does not need to receive, through a backhaul link, ascheduling command sent by the base station to communicate with the UE,but communicates with the UE by scheduling a radio resource, therebylowering a delay requirement on the backhaul link. Also, as radioresource sets used by the base station and the radio communication nodedo not intersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality of radiocommunication nodes do not intersect, interference is avoided.

An embodiment in which a radio resource may carry a sign is as discussedabove, which is no longer described herein.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the second configuration parameterfurther includes at least one of the following: configuration of areference signal, configuration of a control channel, a correspondencebetween a radio resource and a radio bearer, a correspondence between aradio resource and an EPS bearer, scrambling code parameterconfiguration, and node identifiers of N radio communication nodes.Further, the reference signal can include at least one of the following:a CRS, a CSI-RS, a DMRS, an SRS, and the like.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first coordination requestmessage may carry information about a second configuration parameterconfigured by the base station for communication between the first radiocommunication node and the UE.

For example, the first radio communication node can use a secondconfiguration parameter carried in a first coordination request messagesent by the base station as a second configuration parameter of thefirst radio communication node, and returns acknowledgement informationto the base station. Alternatively, the first radio communication nodecan perform selection in the second configuration parameter carried inthe first coordination request message, use a selected secondconfiguration parameter as the second configuration parameter of thefirst radio communication node, and carry information about the selectedsecond configuration parameter in the acknowledgement informationreturned to the base station. Alternatively, the first radiocommunication node can further reject the second configuration parameterthat the base station recommends to use, and carry the secondconfiguration parameter that the radio communication node recommends touse in the acknowledgement message returned to the base station. Thefirst coordination request message may further carry an indicationmessage of an identifier and service QoS of the UE. Service QoS of theUE is used for reference during resource coordination. A QoS parameterof a service at least includes one of bit rate information, servicepriority information, and a service type.

Optionally, as another embodiment, when another radio communication node(a second radio communication node) that participates in multiple pointstransmission serves as a main coordination point to coordinate aresource, the first radio communication node can determine the secondconfiguration parameter according to a coordination request message sentby the second radio communication node. Further, the coordinationrequest message carries information about a second configurationparameter configured for communication between the first radiocommunication node and the UE. Alternatively, the coordination requestmessage may further carry the indication message of the identifierand/or service QoS of the UE. The service QoS of the UE is used forreference during resource coordination. The QoS parameter of the serviceat least includes one of bit rate information, service priorityinformation, and the service type.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first radio communication nodemay serve as a main coordination point to determine information aboutthe second. configuration parameter. For a second configurationparameter coordination manner in which the first radio communicationnode serves as the main coordination point, reference can be made to theforegoing second configuration parameter coordination manner in whichthe base station serves as the main coordination point, which is nolonger described herein.

It should be understood that the foregoing example is only exemplary,and the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the secondconfiguration parameter coordination manner.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first radio communication nodecan send to the UE at least one of the following information: firstidentifier information, instruction information, second identifierinformation, third identifier information, and information aboutscrambling code parameter configuration.

An effect of the foregoing information is as discussed above, which isno longer described herein. It should be understood that the embodimentof the present disclosure does not limit a form and sequence that thebase station sends the foregoing information to the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first radio communication nodecan perform segmentation processing, according to segmentationinformation fed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the first radiocommunication node, on transmission data at the RLC entity of the firstradio communication node.

An embodiment in which the base station or the radio communication nodeand the UE transmit data and/or signaling is as discussed above, whichis no longer described herein.

Therefore, the base station and/or the radio communication node and theUE transmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, atime slot or subframe). Alternatively, the base station and/or the radiocommunication node and the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequencydomain resource (for example, a PRB). Therefore, a throughput of the UEcan be effectively increased.

In addition, for an inter-frequency scenario, radio resource sets of alltransmission points that participate in multiple points transmission maybe time domain resource sets that do not intersect. A transmission pointthat participates in multiple points transmission may be a base stationand at least one radio communication node, and may also be a pluralityof radio communication nodes. For example, the base station and thefirst radio communication node perform coordination on the time domain,and then schedule the UE on corresponding time domain resources,respectively, so that the throughput of the UE is increased.Alternatively, when a base station with large coverage transmits RRCsignaling and a first radio communication node in a hotspot regiontransmits a DRB, as RRC signaling connection is always at the basestation, the number of handovers can be lowered, and handoverperformance is enhanced.

It should be understood that the foregoing solutions of performingcoordination on the configuration parameter and determining aparticipant radio communication node are also applicable to aninter-frequency scenario, which are no longer described herein.

A non-limiting example of a communication method in the embodiment ofthe present disclosure is further described in further detail in thefollowing in combination with specific embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure. The method in FIG. 4 is executedby a UE (for example, a UE 104 or UE 105 in FIG. 1) and corresponds to amethod in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2. Therefore, repeated description for theembodiment in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 is properly omitted. The UE can have oneor more MAC entities, which is not limited in the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Optionally, the UE has a plurality of MAC entities,and each MAC entity performs scheduling during communication between theUE and one transmission point.

401. The UE receives first resource configuration information sent by abase station, where the first resource configuration information is usedfor indicating N radio resource sets that are used when N radiocommunication nodes separately perform communication with a userequipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in each radioresource set among the N radio resource sets is used for a radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

402. The UE communicates with a corresponding transmission point byusing a radio resource in a respective radio resource set of thetransmission point, where the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points do not intersect, the respective radio resource setsof the transmission points include the N radio resource sets, and thetransmission points include the N radio communication nodes.

Optionally, the transmission points further include the base station,and a radio resource set used by the UE further includes a radioresource set used for communication between the UE and the base station.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE receivesconfiguration information of radio resource sets used by radiocommunication nodes that participate in multiple points transmission,which is delivered by the base station. The radio resource sets used bythe base station and the radio communication node do not intersect orradio resource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes donot intersect, and a radio resource in the radio resource set is usedfor a radio communication node corresponding to the radio resource setto schedule the UE. Therefore, as a radio communication node is capableof scheduling a radio resource, that is, has a resource schedulingfunction, during communication between the UE and a radio communicationnode, a radio communication node does not need to receive, through abackhaul link, a scheduling command sent by the base station tocommunicate with the UE, but the radio communication node schedules aradio resource to communicate with the UE, thereby lowering a delayrequirement on the backhaul link. Also, as radio resource sets used whenthe UE communicates with the base station and the radio communicationnode do not intersect or radio resource sets used when the UEcommunicates with a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect, interference is avoided.

In addition, data sent by the UE to the base station or the radiocommunication node may be not modulated and encoded, and therefore, asize of a data packet is not increased, in this way, a bandwidthrequirement on a backhaul link is also lowered.

In the prior art, a macro base station and a plurality of small basestations can be deployed in an integrated manner to increase a systemcapacity through a gain from cell splitting. Specifically, the UE ishanded over every time entering a small cell under a small base stationfrom a macro cell under a macro base station, so as to offload data to asmall base station, thereby implementing data offload. When leaving asmall cell under a small base station to enter a macro cell under amacro base station, the UE is handed over again, and the macro basestation provides a service, thereby guaranteeing service continuity.However, a problem of increased number of handovers is caused. When moresmall base stations are deployed, the number of handovers grows larger,and handover performance decreases.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, because multiple pointstransmission is adopted, downlink RRC signaling and/or data can betransmitted from a plurality of transmission points to the UE, and/or aplurality of transmission points can receive uplink RRC signaling and/ordata from a UE. As a preferable solution, the base station sends and/orreceives RRC signaling or an SRB, and specifically, the base station andthe UE may directly perform transmission, or the radio communicationnode performs forwarding, so as to keep an RRC connection of the UE at amacro base station. When the UE traverses a coverage boundary of a radiocommunication node under coverage of the base station, as the RRCconnection is always kept at the base station, a handover is avoided andthe number of handovers is lowered.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the UE can keep uplink or downlinksynchronization with each transmission point that participates inmultiple points transmission. In addition, for a UE having a singleradio frequency capability, the UE can correspondingly switch a receiveror a transmitter among a plurality of transmission points according totime domain resources used by the plurality of transmission points.

In addition, for an inter-frequency scenario, radio resource sets of alltransmission points that participate in multiple points transmission maybe time domain resource sets that do not intersect. A transmission pointthat participates in multiple points transmission may be a base stationand at least one radio communication node, and may also be a pluralityof radio communication nodes. That a base station and one radiocommunication node serve as transmission points that participate inmultiple points transmission is used as an example, the base station andthe radio communication node have different frequencies, that is, centerfrequencies of working frequencies are different. The base station andthe radio communication node perform coordination on a time domain, andthen schedule the UE on a corresponding time domain resource,respectively, so that a throughput of the UE is increased.Alternatively, when a base station with large coverage transmits RRCsignaling and a radio communication node in a hotspot region transmits aDRB, as the RRC signaling connection is always at the base station, thenumber of handovers can be lowered, and handover performance isenhanced.

It should be understood that the foregoing solutions of performingcoordination on the configuration parameter and determining aparticipant radio communication node are also applicable to aninter-frequency scenario, which are no longer described herein.

The embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail in thefollowing in combination with specific examples. In FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 inthe following, an example of a base station is an eNB, and it should benoted that the embodiment of the present disclosure is not limitedthereto. It should be further understood that the embodiment of thepresent disclosure does not limit the number of the UEs and radiocommunication nodes, which may be one or more. It should be furthernoted that that the radio communication node may be a macro basestation, a small base station, or a micro base station, and may furtherbe a relay station, a home base station, or a node only having a userplane processing function, which is not limited in the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

In addition, besides the foregoing eNB and radio communication nodes,the system in the embodiment of the present disclosure may furtherinclude a small station that does not have a radio resource schedulingfunction to participate in multiple points transmission, for example, anRRH. The small station that does not have radio resource scheduling isconnected to a base station or a radio communication node that has aradio resource scheduling function, and is scheduled by the base stationor the radio communication node. The embodiment of the presentdisclosure does not limit whether the transmission points have a samefrequency or have different frequencies.

FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 are schematic flow charts of a process of acommunication method for the gateway system in FIG. 1 according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

501. A UE establishes an RRC connection with an eNB.

502. The UE performs a measurement.

For example, the UE can measure signal strength and/or signal quality ofa plurality of radio communication nodes, where the plurality of radiocommunication nodes at least include a radio communication node 1 and aradio communication node 2.

503. The UE sends a measurement report to the eNB.

For example, a measurement report can include at least one of thefollowing: signal strength of a radio communication node, signal qualityof a radio communication node, and the like.

504. The eNB determines a radio communication node that participates inmultiple points transmission.

For example, in a case in which a service attribute of the UE shows thatthe UE currently has a plurality of radio bearers to transmit, and/or aQoS parameter of the UE shows that a radio bearer of the UE is anon-guaranteed Non-GBR service or other cases, the eNB can decide thatthe UE performs multiple points transmission.

Further, the eNB can determine a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission according to themeasurement report sent by the UE. For example, if the signal strengthand/or signal quality of the radio communication nodes, namely, theradio communication node 1 and the radio communication node 2 measuredby UE reaches a preset threshold, and/or load of the radio communicationnode 1 and the radio communication node 2 is lower than a presetthreshold, or in other cases, the eNB can select the radio communicationnode 1 and the radio communication node 2 as radio communication nodesthat participate in multiple points transmission. In another example, ifthe time that a UE continuously uses a service in a radio communicationnode 1 of a current service cell exceeds a preset threshold, and/or acurrent moving speed of the UE is lower than a set threshold, and thelike, the eNB can select the radio communication node 1 as one of theplurality of radio communication nodes that participate in multiplepoints transmission. Optionally, the eNB can further determine N radiocommunication nodes according to a stored access record of the UE, wherethe access record includes an access frequency of the UE and/or a CSGcell of the UE, and the like. For example, the access record of the UEindicates that the radio communication node, namely, the radiocommunication node 2 as the cell that the UE often accesses, and/or thatthe radio communication node 2 is a CSG cell of the UE, the eNB canselect the radio communication node 2 as one of a plurality of radiocommunication nodes that participate in multiple points transmission. Inthis way, a more suitable transmission point can be selected to transmitdata for the UE.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the manner in which the eNB determines a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmission.

505 a. The eNB sends a coordination request message to a radiocommunication node 1.

505 b. The eNB sends a coordination request message to a radiocommunication node 2.

506 a. The radio communication node 1 returns acknowledgementinformation to the eNB.

506 b: The radio communication node 2 returns acknowledgementinformation to the eNB.

For example, the eNB may serve as a main coordination point tocoordinate configuration parameters for the radio communication node 1and the radio communication node 2. The configuration parameter may be aradio resource set, configuration of a reference signal, configurationof a control channel, a correspondence between a radio resource and aradio bearer, a correspondence between a radio resource and an EPSbearer, scrambling code parameter configuration, a node identifier of aradio communication node, and the like. Specifically, a coordinationrequest message can be separately sent to the radio communication node 1and the radio communication node 2. The radio communication node 1 andthe radio communication node 2 determine and carry in theacknowledgement information returned to the eNB information about theconfiguration parameter according to the received coordination requestmessages. By taking the coordination of a radio resource set andconfiguration of a reference signal as an example, an uplink radioresource and a downlink radio resource used for communication betweenthe radio communication node 1 and the UE are respectively a PRB 10 anda PRB 12 on the frequency domain, and a CSI-RS with a period of 30 ms isadopted. An uplink radio resource and a downlink radio resource used forcommunication between the radio communication node 2. and the UE arerespectively a PRB 19 and a PRB 20 on the frequency domain, and a CSI-RSwith a period of 50 ms is adopted. Optionally, the eNB can carry in thecoordination request message the information about the configurationparameter configured by the eNB for the radio communication node 1 andthe radio communication node 2. The radio communication node 1 and theradio communication node 2 can return acknowledgement information, orcarry in the acknowledgement information the configuration parameterrecommended to use. Further, the eNB can send an indication message ofan identifier and/or service QoS of a UE to the radio communication node1 and the radio communication node 2. The service QoS of the UE is usedfor reference during resource coordination. The QoS parameter of theservice at least includes one of bit rate information, service priorityinformation, and a service type.

Optionally, the eNB can coordinate configuration parameters by adoptinga “command type”, and separately send to the radio communication node 1and the radio communication node 2 corresponding information about afirst configuration parameter. The radio communication node 1 and theradio communication node 2 do not need to return acknowledgementinformation to the eNB. It should be understood that the embodiment ofthe present disclosure does not limit the configuration parametercoordination manner.

Further, a radio resource set used by the eNB and radio resource setsused by the radio communication node 1 and the radio communication node2 do not intersect, and configuration parameters of adopted referencesignals are different from each other. For example, the radio resourcesused by the eNB are PRB 13 to PRB 16 on the frequency domain, and aCSI-RS with a period of 60 ms is adopted.

It should be understood that the selection of a time domain resource ora frequency domain resource in the foregoing example is only exemplary,rather than to limit the embodiment of the present disclosure. It shouldbe further noted that a combination of a time domain resource and afrequency domain resource can be adopted for one same transmissionpoint.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used for communication betweena transmission point that participates in multiple points transmissionand a UE do not intersect, and a base station or a radio communicationnode that participates in multiple points transmission schedules the UEon a corresponding radio resource, for example, sends downlink data tothe UE accurately based on a scheduled moment. In this way, interferencecan be effectively eliminated. In addition, multiple points transmissionis performed for a UE; therefore, a throughput of the UE can beeffectively, increased.

507. The eNB configures information for the UE.

For example, the eNB sends to the UE information about radio resourcesets used by the radio communication node 1 and the radio communicationnode 2. Further, a radio resource in a radio resource set may carry anuplink or downlink sign to indicate a direction of using the radioresource; and/or may carry a sign of that the radio resource is used forphysical data channel transmission and/or used for physical controlchannel transmission; and/or may carry a sign of an activation time of aradio resource. Optionally, the foregoing reference signal can includeat least one of a CRS, a CSI-RS, an SRS, and a DMRS. It should beunderstood that the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limitthe form of adopting a reference signal.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the eNB can send first identifierinformation to the UE. The UE identifies correspondences between radioresource sets used by the radio communication node 1 and the radiocommunication node 2 and a reference signal according to the firstidentifier information. Further, the UE can measure a correspondingdownlink reference signal on a corresponding downlink radio resource orsend a corresponding uplink reference signal on a corresponding uplinkradio resource according to the correspondence. The UE can measure achannel instruction according to the reference signals, and separatelysend a measurement result to the radio communication node 1 and theradio communication node 2 on corresponding radio resources according tothe correspondences. The UE can further perform channel estimation oncorresponding radio resources by using the reference signals accordingto the correspondences, respectively, and perform decoding oncorresponding radio resources according to a channel estimation result.Further, the UE can identify a correspondence between an eNB and areference signal used by the eNB according to the first identifierinformation.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the eNB can send instructioninformation to the UE. The UE receive a corresponding control channel byusing the instruction information according to the type of a controlchannel of the eNB, the radio communication node 1 or the radiocommunication node 2. For example, the UE receives a control channel inan ePDCCH or PDCCH manner according to the instruction information.Preferably, when the type of the control channel is an ePDCCH, thefrequency domain configuration information of the ePDCCH may be furtherincluded, for example, configuration of the PRB, and the UE can receivethe control channel for the type of ePDCCH at a corresponding frequencydomain position according to the configuration.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the eNB can send second identifierinformation to the UE. The UE maps data of a transmission channel, aradio bearer or an EPS bearer to a corresponding radio resourceaccording to the second identifier information, or can map data acquiredfrom a radio resource to a corresponding transmission channel, radiobearer or EPS bearer according to the second identifier information.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the eNB can send third identifierinformation to the UE, and identify the eNB, the radio communicationnode 1, and the radio communication node 2 according to the thirdidentifier information.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the eNB can send information aboutscrambling code parameter configuration to the UE. The UE separatelydescrambles a downlink reference signal or a downlink physical channelof the eNB, the radio communication node 1 or the radio communicationnode 2 according to the information about scrambling code parameterconfiguration, and/or separately scrambles an uplink reference signal oran uplink physical channel of the eNB, the radio communication node 1 orthe radio communication node 2 according to the information aboutscrambling code parameter configuration. For example, the uplinkreference signal may be an SRS, and the downlink reference signal may bea DMRS, a CRS or a CSI-RS.

Specifically, the eNB, the radio communication node 1 or the radiocommunication node 2 can send a reference signal on a correspondingradio resource. The UE can measure a reference signal on a radioresource based on a configured correspondence between a reference signaland a radio resource. For example, the eNB, the radio communication node1 or the radio communication node 2 can send a corresponding CSI-RS on acorresponding radio resource (for example, for the radio communicationnode 1, on a PRB 12, and for the radio communication node 2, on a PRB20), and the UE measures the CSI-RS to obtain a CSI channel statemeasurement result of the radio resource. Alternatively, the eNB, theradio communication node 1 or the radio communication node 2 can send acorresponding DMRS on a corresponding radio resource, and the UEmeasures a DMRS and uses the measurement result to decode a signal onthe radio resource. Alternatively, the UE can send a corresponding SRScorresponding to the radio resource on a corresponding radio resource.

The UE performs CQI measurement based on a CR-RS with a period of 30 ms,and sends a measurement report to the radio communication node 1 on thePRB 10. The UE performs CQI measurement based on a CSI-RS with a periodof 50 ms, and sends a measurement report to the radio communication node2 on the PRB 19. In this way, measurement accuracy can be effectivelyenhanced.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the form in which the base station sends the foregoinginformation to the UE and the sending sequence.

508 a. The UE transmits data with the eNB.

508 b. The UE transmits data with the radio communication node 1.

508 c. The UE transmits data with the radio communication node 2.

Optionally, as an implementation manner, RRC signaling and/or data canbe transmitted from a plurality of transmission points to a UE.Preferably, a base station sends and receives RRC signaling or an SRB(specifically, an eNB and a UE can perform transmission directly or bymeans of the radio communication node 1 or the radio communication node2 transmission), so as to keep an RRC connection of the UE at the eNB.When a UE crosses a coverage boundary of radio communication nodes underthe coverage of the base station, the RRC connection is always kept atthe eNB, thereby avoiding a handover and reducing the number ofhandovers.

Optionally, the radio communication node 1 or the radio communicationnode 2 transmission can perform segmentation processing, according tosegmentation information fed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity, ontransmission data at the RLC entity of the radio communication node.

For example, the UE can receive downlink signaling and/or downlink datasent by an eNB, a radio communication node or a radio communication node2 on a corresponding radio resource, and/or can send uplink signalingand/or uplink data to the eNB, the radio communication node 1 or theradio communication node 2 on a corresponding radio resource. Forexample, the UE sends uplink signaling and/or uplink data to the radiocommunication node 1 on the PRB 10, and the UE receives downlinksignaling and/or downlink data sent by the radio communication node 1 onthe PRB 12. In another example, the UE sends uplink signaling and/oruplink data to the radio communication node 2 on the PRB 19, and the UEreceives downlink signaling and/or downlink data sent by the radiocommunication node 2 on the PRB 20. The foregoing signaling refers toRRC signaling and is transmitted on the SRB, and data is transmitted onthe DRB.

It should be understood that the selection of a time domain resource ora frequency domain resource in the foregoing example is only exemplary,rather than to limit the embodiment of the present disclosure. It shouldbe further noted that a combination of a time domain resource and afrequency domain resource can be adopted for one same transmissionpoint.

Therefore, the eNB, the radio communication node 1 or the radiocommunication node 2 and the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequencydomain resource (for example, a PRB). Specifically, for a downlink, theeNB, the radio communication node 1 or the radio communication node 2send data the UE on corresponding radio resources, and the UE receivesdata on corresponding radio resources. For an uplink, the UE sends datato the eNB, the radio communication node 1 or the radio communicationnode 2 on a corresponding radio resource, respectively, and the eNB, theradio communication node 1 or the radio communication node 2 receivesdata on corresponding radio resources. In this way, a throughput of theUE can be effectively increased.

Therefore, radio resource sets used by the base station and the radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used by aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect, and a radioresource in the radio resource set is used for a radio communicationnode corresponding to the radio resource set to schedule the UE. In thisway, a radio communication node is capable of scheduling a radioresource, that is, has a resource scheduling function, and a radiocommunication node, during communication between a UE and a radiocommunication node, does not need to receive, by using a backhaul link,a scheduling command sent by the base station to communicate with theUE, but communicates with the UE by scheduling a radio resource;therefore a delay requirement on a backhaul link is lowered. Inaddition, radio resource sets used by the base station and the radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used by aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect; therefore,interference is avoided. In addition, data sent by a UE to a basestation or a radio communication node may be not modulated and encoded,and therefore, the size of a data packet is not increased. In this way,a bandwidth requirement on a backhaul link is also lowered.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the schematic flow chart shown in FIG. 6, same reference signs areused for steps that are the same as or similar to those in FIG. 5, whichare no longer described herein to avoid repetition.

605. An eNB sends instruction information to a radio communication node1.

606. The radio communication node 1 sends a coordination request to aradio communication node 2.

607. The radio communication node 2 returns acknowledgement informationto the radio communication node 1.

608. The radio communication node 1 sends a second notification messageto the eNB.

The radio communication node 1 serves as a main coordination pointaccording to instruction information received in step 605 to performcoordination of a configuration parameter with the radio communicationnode 2. For example, the radio communication node 1 separately sends acoordination request message to the radio communication node 2, and theradio communication node 2 can determine, according to the receivedcoordination request message, information about a configurationparameter and carry the information in acknowledgement informationreturned to the eNB. The configuration parameter takes a radio resourceand a reference signal as examples, and the radio communication node 1can carry in the coordination request message a radio resourceconfigured by the radio communication node 1 for the radio communicationnode 2 and configuration of a reference signal. The radio communicationnode 2 can return acknowledgement information, or carry in theacknowledgement information a radio resource and a reference signal theradio communication node 1 recommends to use. For example, an uplinkradio resource and a downlink radio resource used for communicationbetween the radio communication node 2 and the UE are a PRB 19 and a PRB20 on the frequency domain, respectively, and a CSI-RS with a period of50 ms is adopted. Optionally, the coordination request message mayfurther carry an indication message of an identifier and/or service QoSof a UE. The service QoS of the UE is used for reference during resourcecoordination. The QoS parameter of the service at least includes one ofbit rate information, service priority information, and a service type.The radio communication node 1 determines that an uplink radio resourceand a downlink radio resource used for communication with the UE are aPRB 10 and a PRB 12 on the frequency domain, respectively, and adopts aCSI-RS with a period of 30 ms. The radio communication node 1 sends asecond notification message to the eNB, and the second notificationmessage is used for indicating information about the configurationparameters of the radio communication node 1 and the radio communicationnode 2.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used for communication betweena transmission point that participates in multiple points transmissionand a UE do not intersect, and a base station or a radio communicationnode that participates in multiple points transmission schedules the UEon a corresponding radio resource, for example, sends downlink data tothe UE accurately based on the scheduled moment. In this way, a radiocommunication node is capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, and a radio communication node,during communication between a UE and a radio communication node, doesnot need to receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sentby the base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates withthe UE by scheduling a radio resource; therefore, a delay requirement ona backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by thebase station and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the schematic flow chart shown in FIG. 7, same reference signs areused for steps that are the same as or similar to those in FIG. 5, whichare no longer described here to avoid repetition.

704. An eNB determines a radio communication node that participates inmultiple points transmission.

For example, in a case in which a service attribute of a UE shows thatthe UE currently has a plurality of radio bearers to transmit and/or aQoS parameter of the UE shows that a radio bearer of the UE is anon-guaranteed Non-GBR service, or other cases, the eNB can decide thatthe UE performs multiple points transmission.

707. The eNB configures information for the UE.

, radio resources are coordinated, so that radio resource sets used whena transmission point that participates in multiple points transmissioncommunicates with a UE do not intersect, and a base station or radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmissionschedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource, for example, sendsdownlink data to the UE accurately based on a scheduled moment. In thisway, a radio communication node is capable of scheduling a radioresource, that is, has a resource scheduling function, and a radiocommunication node, during communication between a UE and a radiocommunication node, does not need to receive, by using a backhaul link,a scheduling command sent by the base station to communicate with theUE, but communicates with the UE by scheduling a radio resource;therefore, a delay requirement on a backhaul link is lowered. Inaddition, radio resource sets used by the base station and the radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used by aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect; therefore,interference is avoided.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a process of a communication methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the schematic flow chart shown in FIG. 8, same reference signs areused for steps that are the same as or similar to those in FIG. 5, whichare no longer described here to avoid repetition.

801 a. An eNB sends a coordination request to a radio communication node1.

801 b. The eNB sends a coordination request to a radio communicationnode 2.

802 a. The radio communication node 1 returns acknowledgementinformation to the eNB.

802 b. The radio communication node 2 returns acknowledgementinformation to the eNB.

803. A UE establishes an RRC connection with the eNB.

It should be further understood that the embodiment of the presentdisclosure does not limit the sequence of coordinating configurationparameters and determining a transmission point that participates inmultiple points transmission.

In the foregoing solution, radio resources are coordinated, so thatradio resource sets used for communication between a transmission pointand a UE that participate in multiple points transmission do notintersect, and a base station or radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission schedules the UE on acorresponding radio resource, for example, sends downlink data to the UEaccurately based on a scheduled moment. In this way, a radiocommunication node is capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, and a radio communication node,during communication between a UE and a radio communication node, doesnot need to receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sentby the base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates withthe UE by scheduling a radio resource; therefore, a delay requirement ona backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by thebase station and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided. In addition, multiplepoints transmission is performed for the UE; therefore, a throughput ofthe UE can be effectively increased.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. A base station (for example, theeNB 101 in FIG. 1) executes the method in FIG. 9. The communicationmethod of the present disclosure is applied to a scenario where multiplepoints transmission is transparent to a UE.

901. A base station determines first resource configuration information,where the first resource configuration information is used forindicating N radio resource sets that are used when N radiocommunication nodes separately perform communication with a userequipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in each radioresource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

902. The base station sends configuration information of correspondingradio resource sets among the N radio resource sets separately to the Nradio communication nodes, so that the N radio communication nodescommunicate with the UE by scheduling the radio resources in respectiveradio resource sets.

The UE communicates with a corresponding transmission point by using arespective radio resource set of the transmission point, respectiveradio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

Optionally, the transmission points may further include the basestation, and the respective radio resource sets of the transmissionpoints further include a radio resource set used for communicationbetween the UE and the base station. Of course, transmission points inthe embodiment of the present disclosure may further include a smallstation that does not have a radio resource scheduling function andparticipates in multiple points transmission, for example, an RRH.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station sendsconfiguration information about a corresponding radio resource set usedfor communication with a UE to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. The radio resource setsused by the base station and the radio communication node do notintersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality of radiocommunication nodes do not intersect. In addition, a radio resource in aradio resource set is used for a radio communication node correspondingto the radio resource set to schedule the UE. In this way, a radiocommunication node is capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, and a radio communication node,during communication between a UE and a radio communication node, doesnot need to receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sentby the base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates withthe UE by scheduling a radio resource; therefore, a delay requirement ona backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by thebase station and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

Optionally, as an embodiment, a radio resource in a radio resource setmay carry at least one of the following signs: an uplink or downlinksign, a sign of that the radio resource is used for physical datachannel transmission, and/or a sign of that the radio resource is usedfor physical control channel transmission; a sign of an activation timeof a radio resource, and the like, which may be specifically referred tothe description in the foregoing embodiments.

Optionally, as another embodiment, cell identifiers of the base stationand N radio communication nodes may be the same. Therefore, for a UE, aplurality of transmission points is equivalent to one cell, that is,multiple points transmission is transparent to the UE. A radiocommunication node is capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, and a radio communication node,during communication between a UE and a radio communication node, doesnot need to receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sentby the base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates withthe UE by scheduling a radio resource; therefore, a delay requirement ona backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by thebase station and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 901, the base station mayserve as a main coordination point to coordinate a third configurationparameter of the radio communication node, so as to determine aconfiguration parameter separately used by each radio communicationnode. The third configuration parameter may be referred to thedescription of the first configuration parameter in the foregoingembodiment.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 901, the base station canreceive information about third configuration parameters of L radiocommunication nodes sent by an OAM device, and determine N radiocommunication nodes among the L radio communication nodes, where L is apositive integer and L≥N.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 901, one of the N radiocommunication nodes may serve as a main coordination point to coordinatethird configuration parameters of other radio communication nodes.Specifically, the base station can receive information about thirdconfiguration parameters of Z1 radio communication nodes sent by theforegoing one of the N radio communication nodes, where Z1 is a positiveinteger and Z1>N, and determine N radio communication nodes among the Z1radio communication nodes to participate in multiple pointstransmission. The third configuration parameter coordination manner inwhich one of the N radio communication nodes serves as a maincoordination point may be referred to the third configuration parametercoordination manner in which the base station serves as a maincoordination point, which is no longer repeated herein.

Further, the base station can send an indication message of anidentifier and/or service QoS of a UE for multiple points transmissionto a radio communication node that participates in multiple pointstransmission. The service QoS of the UE is used for reference duringresource coordination. The QoS parameter of the service at leastincludes one of bit rate information, service priority information, anda service type.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 901, the base station candetermine N radio communication nodes that participate in multiplepoints transmission among N1 radio communication nodes according to ameasurement report sent by a UE, where N1 is a positive integer andN1≥N. The base station can further determine N radio communication nodesaccording to a stored access record of the UE, and the access recordincludes an access frequency of the UE and/or a CSG cell of the UE, andthe like. Further, the UE can carry in an RRC approximate indicationmessage information of the CSG cell to report to the base station, whichmay be specifically referred to the description in the foregoingembodiments.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE and can select a more suitable transmissionpoint to communicate with the UE.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the manner in which the base station determines a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmission. Itshould be further noted that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the sequence in which the base station determines N radiocommunication nodes that participate in multiple points transmission andcoordinates resources.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station can send to the UEinformation of CSI feedback configuration of a periodic channel stateinformation-reference signal CSI-RS.

Optionally, as another embodiment, before step 901, the base station canestablish a radio resource control RRC connection with the UE.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, because of multiple pointstransmission, downlink RRC signaling and/or data can be transmitted froma base station and/or radio communication node to a UE, and/or uplinkRRC signaling and/or data can be received by the UE from the basestation and/or radio communication node. As a preferable solution, abase station sends and receives RRC signaling or an SRB (specifically,the base station can perform transmission with the UE directly, or aradio communication node performs forwarding), so as to keep an RRCconnection of a UE at a macro base station. When a UE crosses a coverageboundary of radio communication nodes under the coverage of the basestation, the RRC connection is always kept at the base station, therebyavoiding a handover and reducing the number of handovers.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the radio communication node canperform segmentation processing, according to segmentation informationfed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the radio communicationnode, on transmission data at the RLC entity of the radio communicationnode.

Optionally, as another embodiment, a base station and one or more radiocommunication nodes, or a plurality of radio communication nodes mayperform multiple points transmission for a UE. For example, a basestation and a UE transmit RRC signaling and data DRB 1 on correspondingradio resources, and a radio communication node 104 and the UE transmitdata DRB 2 on corresponding radio resources; or the base station and theUE transmit RRC signaling on corresponding radio resources, a radiocommunication node 102 and the UE transmit data DRB 1 on correspondingradio resources, and a radio communication node 103 and the UE transmitdata DRB 2 on corresponding resources; or the base station and the UEtransmit RRC signaling and data DRB 1 on corresponding radio resources,and the radio communication node 104 and the UE transmit data RRCsignaling and data DRB 2 on corresponding radio resources; or an RRCconnection is established between the base station and the UE, the radiocommunication node 102 and the UE transmit RRC signaling and data. DRB 1on corresponding radio resources, and the radio communication node 103and the UE transmit data DRB 2 on corresponding resources. In addition,the base station may directly or may indirectly (for example, sends to afirst radio communication node first) send an RRC message to the UE.

In addition, data sent by a UE to a base station or a radiocommunication node may be not modulated and encoded, and therefore, thesize of a data packet is not increased. In this way, a bandwidthrequirement on a backhaul link is also lowered.

Therefore, the base station and/or the radio communication node and theUE transmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, atime slot or subframe); or the base station and/or the radiocommunication node and the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequencydomain resource (for example, a PRB). In this way, a throughput of a UEcan be effectively increased.

In addition, for an inter-frequency scenario, radio resource sets of alltransmission points that participate in multiple points transmission maybe time domain resource sets that do not intersect. Transmission pointsthat participate in multiple points transmission may be a base stationand at least one radio communication node, may also be a plurality ofradio communication nodes, and may also include a small station thatdoes not have a radio resource scheduling function and participates inmultiple points transmission, for example, an RRH. A small station thatdoes not have radio resource scheduling is connected to a base stationor a radio communication node that has a radio resource schedulingfunction, and is scheduled by the base station or the radiocommunication node.

That a base station and one radio communication node serve astransmission points that participate in multiple points transmission isused as an example, the base station and the radio communication nodehave different frequencies, that is, the center frequencies of theworking frequencies are different. The base station and the radiocommunication node perform coordination on a time domain, and thenseparately schedule a UE on corresponding time domain resources, so thata throughput of the UE is increased. Alternatively, when a base stationwith large coverage transmits RRC signaling and a radio communicationnode in a hotspot region transmits a DRB, the RRC signaling connectionis always at the base station; therefore, the number of handovers can bereduced and handover performance is enhanced.

It should be understood that the foregoing solutions of performingcoordination on a configuration parameter and determining participantradio communication nodes are also applied to an inter-frequencyscenario, which are no longer repeated herein.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a communication method according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure. A radio communication node (forexample, the radio communication node 102 or the radio communicationnode 103 or the radio communication node 104 in FIG. 1) executes themethod in FIG. 10, which corresponds to the method in FIG. 9, andtherefore descriptions that repeated in the embodiment of FIG. 9 areproperly omitted.

1001. A first radio communication node receives information that isabout a fourth configuration parameter and sent by an operation,administration and maintenance OAM device; or, the first radiocommunication node determines a fourth configuration parameter accordingto a second coordination request message received from the base station,and sends information about the fourth configuration parameter to a basestation, where the second coordination request message carriesinformation about the fourth configuration parameter configured by thebase station for communication between the first radio communicationnode and the UE, the fourth configuration parameter includes a firstradio resource set used for communication between the first radiocommunication node and a user equipment UE, and a radio resource in thefirst radio resource set includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

1002. The first radio communication node communicates with the UE byscheduling the radio resource in the first radio resource set.

The first radio communication node is one of transmission points thatcommunicate with the UE, the UE communicates with the transmission pointby using a radio resource in a respective radio resource set of thetransmission point, respective radio resource sets of the transmissionpoint do not intersect, and the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission point include the first radio resource set.

In other words, a radio resource of the first radio resource set is usedfor the first radio communication node to schedule the UE, andtherefore, the first radio communication node has a radio resourcescheduling function. The first radio resource set and radio resourcesets used by other radio communication nodes that participate inmultiple points transmission to separately communicate with the UE donot intersect. If the base station participates in multiple pointstransmission, the first radio resource set and the radio resource setused for communication between the base station and the UE do notintersect.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit this. Of course, the embodiment of the present disclosuremay further include a small station that does not have a radio resourcescheduling function and participates in multiple points transmission,for example, an RRH.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station sendsconfiguration information about a corresponding radio resource set usedfor communication with a UE to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. The radio resource setsused by the base station and the radio communication node do notintersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality of radiocommunication nodes do not intersect. In addition, a radio resource in aradio resource set is used for a radio communication node correspondingto the radio resource set to schedule the UE. In this way, a radiocommunication node is capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, and a radio communication node,during communication between a UE and a radio communication node, doesnot need to receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sentby the base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates withthe UE through scheduling a radio resource thereof; therefore, a delayrequirement on a backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resourcesets used by the base station and the radio communication node do notintersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality of radiocommunication nodes do not intersect; therefore, interference isavoided.

Optionally, as another embodiment, a fourth configuration parameter mayfurther include at least one of the following: configuration of areference signal, configuration of a control channel, a correspondencebetween a radio resource and a radio bearer, a correspondence between aradio resource and an EPS bearer, scrambling code parameterconfiguration, node identifiers of N radio communication nodes, and CSIfeedback configuration of a periodic channel state information-referencesignal CSI-RS, and the like. The reference signal may include at leastone of the following: a CSI-RS, a DMRS, an SRS, and the like.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station sends an identifierof the UE to the first communication node. For example, the base stationcan carry the identifier of the UE in the second coordination requestmessage.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the second coordination requestmessage carries information about a fourth configuration parameterconfigured by the base station for communication between a first radiocommunication node and a UE. The fourth configuration parametercoordination manner in which the base station serves as a maincoordination point is as described above, which is no longer repeatedherein.

Optionally, as another embodiment, when another radio communication node(a second radio communication node) that participates in multiple pointstransmission serves as a main coordination point to coordinateresources, a first radio communication node can determine a fourthconfiguration parameter according to a coordination request message sentby the second radio communication node. Further, the coordinationrequest message carries information about a fourth configurationparameter configured for communication between the first radiocommunication node and a UE. Alternatively, the coordination requestmessage sent by the second radio communication node may further carry anindication message of an identifier and/or service QoS of a UE. Theservice QoS of the UE is used for reference during resourcecoordination. The QoS parameter of the service at least includes one ofbit rate information, service priority information, and a service type.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first radio communication nodemay serve as a main coordination point to determine information about afourth configuration parameter. The fourth configuration parametercoordination manner in which the first radio communication node servesas the main coordination point can be referred to the foregoing fourthconfiguration parameter coordination manner in which the base stationserves as the main coordination point, which is no longer repeatedherein.

It should be understood that the foregoing examples are only exemplary,and the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the fourthconfiguration parameter coordination manner.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first radio communication nodecan perform segmentation processing, according to segmentationinformation fed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the first radiocommunication node, on transmission data at the RLC entity of the firstradio communication node.

Optionally, as another embodiment, a base station and a first radiocommunication node, a base station and multiple radio communicationnodes, or a plurality of radio communication nodes (the first radiocommunication node is one of the plurality of radio communication nodes)may perform multiple points transmission for a UE. The embodiment inwhich a base station or a radio communication node and a UE transmitdata and/or signaling is as described above, which is no longer repeatedherein.

Therefore, the base station and/or the radio communication node and theUE transmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, atime slot or subframe); or the base station and/or the radiocommunication node and the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequencydomain resource (for example, a PRB). In this way, a throughput of a UEcan be effectively increased.

In addition, for an inter-frequency scenario, the radio resource sets ofall transmission points that participate in multiple points transmissionmay be time domain resource sets that do not intersect. Transmissionpoints that participate in multiple points transmission may be a basestation and at least one radio communication node, and may also be aplurality of radio communication nodes. By taking an example in which abase station and a first radio communication node serve as transmissionpoints that participate in multiple points transmission, the basestation and the first radio communication node have differentfrequencies, that is, the center frequencies of the working frequenciesare different. The base station and the first radio communication nodeperform coordination on a time domain, and then separately schedule a UEon corresponding time domain resources, so that a throughput of the UEis increased. Alternatively, when a base station with large coveragetransmits RRC signaling and a radio communication node in a hotspotregion transmits a DRB, the RRC signaling connection is always at thebase station; therefore, the number of handovers can be reduced andhandover performance is enhanced.

It should be understood that the foregoing solutions of performingcoordination on the configuration parameter and determining participantradio communication nodes are also applicable to an inter-frequencyscenario, which are no longer repeated herein.

FIG. 11 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The base station in thisembodiment can execute the steps in the foregoing method embodiments,and the eNB 101 in FIG. 11 is an example of the base station. The basestation of FIG. 11 includes a determining unit 1101 and a sending unit1102.

The determining unit 1101 is configured to determine first resourceconfiguration information, where the first resource configurationinformation is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with auser equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in eachradio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

The sending unit 1102 is configured to send the first resourceconfiguration information determined by the determining unit to the UE,so that the UE communicates with the corresponding radio communicationnode by using the radio resource in the N radio resource sets, where theUE communicates with a corresponding transmission point by using arespective radio resource set of the transmission point, respectiveradio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

In the foregoing solution, a base station delivers to a UE configurationinformation of a radio resource set used by a radio communication nodethat participates in multiple points transmission. Radio resource setsused by a base station and a radio communication node do not intersector radio resource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodesdo not intersect, and a radio resource in a radio resource set is usedfor a radio communication node corresponding to the radio resource setto schedule a UE. In this way, a radio communication node is capable ofscheduling a radio resource, that is, has a resource schedulingfunction, and a radio communication node, during communication between aUE and a radio communication node, does not need to receive, by using abackhaul link, a scheduling command sent by the base station tocommunicate with the UE, but communicates with the UE by scheduling aradio resource; therefore, a delay requirement on a backhaul link islowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by the base station andthe radio communication node do not intersect or radio resource setsused by a plurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect;therefore, interference is avoided.

Optionally, the base station may further include a controlling unit1103, configured to control the sending unit to communicate with the UE,where the respective radio resource sets of the transmission pointsfurther include a radio resource set used for communication between theUE and the base station. Of course, transmission points in theembodiment of the present disclosure may further include a small stationthat does not have a radio resource scheduling function and participatesin multiple points transmission, for example, an RRH.

The base station 1100 can implement operations related to a base stationin the embodiments in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, which is no longer described indetail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the sending unit 1102 is furtherconfigured to: separately send corresponding information about a firstconfiguration parameter to N radio communication nodes, where the firstconfiguration parameter includes at least one of the following: a radioresource set, configuration of a reference signal, configuration of acontrol channel, a correspondence between a radio resource and a radiobearer, a correspondence between a radio resource and an EPS bearer,scrambling code parameter configuration, and node identifiers of N radiocommunication nodes, which may be specifically referred to thedescription in the foregoing embodiments.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the sending unit 1102 is furtherconfigured to: separately send a corresponding first coordinationrequest message to M1 radio communication nodes. The base station 1100further includes: a first receiving unit 1104, configured to receiveinformation about first configuration parameters determined and sent byM2 radio communication nodes among the M1 radio communication nodesaccording to the first coordination request message, where a firstconfiguration parameter includes at least one of the following: a radioresource set, configuration of a reference signal, configuration of acontrol channel, a correspondence between a radio resource and a radiobearer, a correspondence between a radio resource and an EPS bearer,scrambling code parameter configuration, and node identifiers of N radiocommunication nodes. The determining unit 1101 is further configured todetermine N radio communication nodes among the M2 radio communicationnodes, where M1 and M2 are positive integers and M1≥M2≥N.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station 1100 furtherincludes: a second receiving unit 1105, configured to receiveinformation that is about first configuration parameters of L radiocommunication nodes and sent by an operation, administration andmaintenance OAM device. The determining unit 1101 is further configuredto: determine N radio communication nodes among the L radiocommunication nodes, where L is a positive integer and L≥N.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets that are used when atransmission point that participates in multiple points transmissioncommunicates with a UE that participate in multiple points transmissiondo not intersect, a scheduler in the base station or the radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmissionschedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource, for example, sendsdownlink data to the UE accurately based on a moment scheduled by eachscheduler. In this way, interference can be effectively eliminated. Inaddition, multiple points transmission is implemented for the UE, sothat a throughput of the UE can be effectively increased.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the first configuration parameter coordination manneramong transmission points, that is, any first configuration parametercoordination manner is applicable to the scope of the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the determining unit 1101 is furtherconfigured to: determine N radio communication nodes according to ameasurement report sent by the UE, where the measurement report includesat least one of the following: signal strength of at least N radiocommunication nodes and signal quality of at least N radio communicationnodes; or is further configured to: determine N radio communicationnodes according to a moving speed of the UE, load of the N radiocommunication nodes, a quality of service QoS parameter of the UE and/orservice information of the UE; or is further configured to: determine Nradio communication nodes according to a stored access record of the UE,where the access record includes an access frequency of the UE and/or aclosed subscriber group CSG cell of the UE.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE and can select a more suitable transmissionpoint to communicate with the UE.

Optionally, the sending unit 1102 is further configured to: send to theUE at least one of the following information: first identifierinformation, instruction information, second identifier information,third identifier information, and information about scrambling codeparameter configuration, which may be specifically referred to thedescription in the foregoing embodiments.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the controlling unit 1103 isconfigured to control the sending unit 1102 and the first receiving unit1104, or control the sending unit 1102 and the second receiving unit1105, to establish a radio resource control RRC connection with the UE.The sending unit 1102 is further configured to separately send aconnection configuration parameter of the UE to the UE and the N radiocommunication nodes, where the connection configuration parameter isused for the UE to separately establish a user plane connection with theN radio communication nodes, and the connection configuration parameterat least includes a physical layer configuration parameter and a mediumaccess control MAC layer configuration parameter.

Preferably, a base station sends and receives RRC signaling or an SRB(specifically, the base station and the UE can perform transmissiondirectly or by means of a radio communication node), so as to keep anRRC connection of the UE at a macro base station. When a UE crosses acoverage boundary of radio communication nodes under the coverage of thebase station, the RRC connection is always kept at the base station,thereby a handover is avoided and the number of handovers is reduced.

Therefore, the base station or the radio communication node and the UEtransmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, a timeslot or subframe); or, the base station or the radio communication nodeand the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequency domain resource (forexample, a physical resource block PRB). In this way, a throughput of aUE can be effectively increased.

FIG. 12 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The radiocommunication node in this embodiment can execute the steps in theforegoing method embodiments. The radio communication node 102, theradio communication node 103 or the radio communication node 104 in FIG.1 is an. example of the radio communication node in this embodiment. Theradio communication node 1200 in FIG. 12 includes a receiving unit 1201and a determining unit 1202.

The receiving unit 1201 is configured to receive information that isabout a second configuration parameter and sent by a base station or anOAM device.

The determining unit 1202 is configured to determine a secondconfiguration parameter according to the information that is about asecond configuration parameter and received by the receiving unit 1201.

The scheduling unit 1203 is configured to communicate with a UE byscheduling a radio resource in a first radio resource set determined bythe determining unit 1202.

The first radio communication node is one of transmission points thatcommunicate with the UE. The UE communicates with the transmission pointby using a radio resource in the respective radio resource set of thetransmission point, respective radio resource sets of the transmissionpoints do not intersect, and the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points include the first radio resource set.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used by a base station and aradio communication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used bya plurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect, and the basestation or radio communication node that participates in multiple pointstransmission schedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource. In thisway, a radio communication node is capable of scheduling a radioresource, that is, has a resource scheduling function, and a radiocommunication node, during communication between a UE and a radiocommunication node, does not need to receive, by using a backhaul link,a scheduling command sent by the base station to communicate with theUE, but communicates with the UE by scheduling a radio resource;therefore, a delay requirement on a backhaul link is lowered. Inaddition, radio resource sets used by the base station and the radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used by aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect; therefore,interference is avoided.

The radio communication node 1200 can implement operations related to aradio communication node in the embodiments in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, whichis no longer described in detail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 13, the foregoing radio communication node1200 may further include a sending unit 1204.

The receiving unit 1201 is specifically configured to receive theinformation that is about a second configuration parameter and sent bythe base station in the following manner: receiving a first coordinationrequest message sent by the base station, where the first coordinationrequest message carries the information about a second configurationparameter configured by the base station for communication between thefirst radio communication node and the UE.

The determining unit 1202 is specifically configured to determine asecond configuration parameter according to the information that isabout a second configuration parameter and received by the receivingunit 1201 in the following manner: determining a second configurationparameter according to the information about a second configurationparameter, where the information is carried in the first coordinationrequest message and received by the receiving unit 1201.

The sending unit 1204 is configured to send to the base stationinformation about the second configuration parameter determined by thedetermining unit.

As an embodiment, the receiving unit 1201 is further configured to:receive a connection configuration parameter of the UE sent by the basestation, where the connection configuration parameter at least includesa physical layer configuration parameter and a medium access control MAClayer configuration parameter.

The determining unit is further configured to: establish a user planeconnection with the UE by using the receiving unit 1201 and/or thesending unit 1204 according to the connection configuration parameter.

FIG. 14 is a structural block diagram of a user equipment according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure. The user equipment in thisembodiment can execute the steps in the foregoing method embodiments.The UE 105 or the UE 106 in FIG. 14 is an example of the user equipment.The user equipment 1400 in FIG. 14 includes a receiving unit 1401 and acontrolling unit 1402.

The UE can have one or more MAC entities. Preferably, the UE has aplurality of MAC entities, and each MAC entity performs schedulingduring communication between the UE and one transmission point. Itshould be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosure doesnot limit this.

The receiving unit 1401 is configured to receive first resourceconfiguration information sent by a base station.

The controlling unit 1402 is configured to:

-   -   acquire the first resource configuration information received by        the receiving unit 1401, where    -   the first resource configuration information is used for        indicating N radio resource sets that are used when N radio        communication nodes separately perform communication with a user        equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in each        radio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for        the radio communication node corresponding to each radio        resource set to schedule the UE, and the radio resource includes        a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource; and    -   control the receiving unit 1401 to communicate with a        transmission point by using a radio resource in a respective        radio resource set of the transmission point, where respective        radio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect,        the respective radio resource sets of the transmission points        include the N radio resource sets, and the transmission points        include the N radio communication nodes.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a UE receives configurationinformation that is about a radio resource set used by a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmission anddelivered by a base station. Radio resource sets used by the basestation and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect, and a radio resource in a radio resource set is used for aradio communication node corresponding to the radio resource set toschedule the UE. In this way, a radio communication node is capable ofscheduling a radio resource, that is, has a resource schedulingfunction, and a radio communication node, during communication between aUE and a radio communication node, does not need to receive, by using abackhaul link, a scheduling command sent by the base station tocommunicate with the UE, but the radio communication node schedules aradio resource to communicate with the UE; therefore, a delayrequirement on a backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resourcesets used when a UE communicates with a base station and a radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used when aUE communicates with a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

The user equipment 1400 can implement operations related to a userequipment in the embodiments in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, which is no longerdescribed in detail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the user equipment 1400 further includes:a sending unit 1403, configured to send a measurement report to the basestation, so that the base station determines N radio communication nodesaccording to the measurement report. The measurement report at leastincludes one of the following: signal strength of at least N radiocommunication nodes and signal quality of at least N radio communicationnodes.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines radio communication nodes that perform multiple pointstransmission for the UE according to the measurement report sent by theUE and can select a more suitable transmission point to communicate withthe UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the receiving unit 1401 is furtherconfigured to receive first identifier information sent by a basestation, and the controlling unit 1402 is further configured to identifycorrespondences between N radio resource sets and reference signals usedby the N radio communication nodes according to the first identifierinformation; and/or, the receiving unit 1401 is further configured toreceive instruction information sent by a base station, and receive acorresponding control channel by using the instruction informationaccording to the type of a control channel of the base station or theradio communication node; and/or, the receiving unit 1401 is furtherconfigured to receive second identifier information sent by a basestation, and the controlling unit 1402 is further configured to map dataof a transmission channel, a radio bearer or an EPS bearer to acorresponding radio resource according to the second identifierinformation, or map data acquired from a radio resource to acorresponding transmission channel, radio bearer or EPS bearer accordingto the second identifier information; and/or, the receiving unit 1401 isfurther configured to receive third identifier information sent by abase station, and the controlling unit 1402 is further configured toidentify a base station and N radio communication nodes according to thethird identifier information; and/or the receiving unit 1401 is furtherconfigured to receive scrambling code parameter configurationinformation sent by a base station, and the controlling unit 1402 isfurther configured to separately descramble a downlink reference signalor a downlink physical channel of the base station and/or N radiocommunication nodes according to the scrambling code parameterconfiguration information, and/or separately scramble an uplinkreference signal or an uplink physical channel of the base stationand/or N radio communication nodes according to the scrambling codeparameter configuration information.

In addition, data sent by a UE to a base station or a radiocommunication node may be not modulated and encoded, and therefore, thesize of a data packet is not increased. In this way, a bandwidthrequirement on a backhaul link is also lowered.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the controlling unit 1402 is furtherconfigured to control the receiving unit and/or the sending unit toestablish a radio resource control RRC connection with the base station,and separately establish a user plane connection with the N radiocommunication nodes according to a connection configuration parameter ofthe UE sent by the base station, where the connection configurationparameter at least includes a physical layer configuration parameter anda MAC layer configuration parameter.

Preferably, a base station sends and receives RRC signaling or an SRB(specifically, the base station and the UE can perform transmissiondirectly, or the radio communication node performs forwarding), so as tokeep an RRC connection of the UE at a macro base station. When a UEcrosses a coverage boundary of radio communication nodes under thecoverage of the base station, the RRC connection is always kept at thebase station; therefore, a handover is avoided and the number ofhandovers is reduced.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the radio communication node canperform segmentation processing, according to segmentation informationfed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the radio communicationnode, on transmission data at the RLC entity of the radio communicationnode.

Therefore, the base station or the radio communication node and the UEtransmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, a timeslot or subframe), or, the base station or the radio communication nodeand the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequency domain resource (forexample, a PRB). In this way, a throughput of a UE can be effectivelyincreased.

FIG. 15 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The eNB 101 in FIG. 15 is anexample of the base station. The base station of FIG. 15 includes adetermining unit 1501 and a sending unit 1502.

The determining unit 1501 is configured to determine first resourceconfiguration information, where the first resource configurationinformation is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with auser equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in eachradio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

The sending unit 1502 is configured to separately send configurationinformation of a corresponding radio resource set among the N radioresource sets to the N radio communication nodes, so that the N radiocommunication nodes schedule the radio resources in respective radioresource sets to communicate with the UE.

The UE communicates with a corresponding transmission point by using arespective radio resource set of the transmission point, respectiveradio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station sendsconfiguration information about a corresponding radio resource set usedfor communication with a UE to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. Radio resource sets usedby the base station and the radio communication node do not intersect orradio resource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes donot intersect. In addition, a radio resource in a radio resource set isused for a radio communication node corresponding to the radio resourceset to schedule the UE. In this way, a radio communication node iscapable of scheduling a radio resource, that is, has a resourcescheduling function, and a radio communication node, duringcommunication between a UE and a radio communication node, does not needto receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sent by thebase station to communicate with the UE, but communicates with the UE byscheduling a radio resource; therefore a delay requirement on a backhaullink is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by the basestation and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

The base station 1500 can implement operations related to a base stationin the embodiments in FIG. 9 to FIG. 10, which is no longer described indetail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, the base station further includes:

a controlling unit 1503, configured to control the sending unit 1502 tocommunicate with the UE, where the base station is one of thetransmission points, the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points further include a radio resource set used forcommunication between the UE and the base station.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the sending unit 1502 is furtherconfigured to: send at least one of the corresponding followingparameters to N radio communication nodes, respectively: configurationof a reference signal, configuration of a control channel, acorrespondence between a radio resource and a radio bearer, acorrespondence between a radio resource and an EPS bearer, scramblingcode parameter configuration, node identifiers of N radio communicationnodes, and CSI feedback configuration of a periodic channel stateinformation-reference signal CSI-RS.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the sending unit 1502 is furtherconfigured to separately send a corresponding second coordinationrequest message to M1 radio communication nodes. The base station 1500further includes: a first receiving unit 1504, configured to receiveinformation about third configuration parameters determined and sent byM2 radio communication nodes among the M1 radio communication nodesaccording to the second coordination request message, where the thirdconfiguration parameter includes at least one of the following: a radioresource set, configuration of a reference signal, configuration of acontrol channel, a correspondence between a radio resource and a radiobearer, a correspondence between a radio resource and an EPS bearer,scrambling code parameter configuration, node identifiers of N radiocommunication nodes, and CSI feedback configuration of a periodicchannel state information-reference signal CSI-RS. The determining unit1501 is further configured to determine N radio communication nodesamong the M2 radio communication nodes, where M1 and M2 are positiveintegers and M1≥M2≥N.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station 1500 furtherincludes: a second receiving unit 1505, configured to receiveinformation that is about third configuration parameters of L radiocommunication nodes and sent by an OAM device. The determining unit 1501further configured to determine N radio communication nodes among the Lradio communication nodes, where L is a positive integer and L≥N.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used for communication betweena transmission point that participates in multiple points transmissionand a UE do not intersect, a scheduler in a base station or a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmissionschedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource, for example, sendsdownlink data to the UE accurately based on a moment scheduled by eachscheduler. In this way, interference can be effectively eliminated. Inaddition, multiple points transmission is performed for the UE;therefore, a throughput of the UE can be effectively increased.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the third configuration parameter coordination manneramong transmission points, that is, any third configuration parametercoordination manner is applicable to the scope of the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the determining unit 1501 is furtherconfigured to: determine N radio communication nodes according to ameasurement report sent by the UE, where the measurement report includesat least one of the following: signal strength of at least N radiocommunication nodes and signal quality of at least N radio communicationnodes; or is further configured to: determine N radio communicationnodes according to a moving speed of the UE, load of the N radiocommunication nodes, a quality of service QoS parameter of the UE,and/or service information of the UE; or is further configured to:determine N radio communication nodes according to a stored accessrecord of the UE, where the access record includes an access frequencyof the UE and/or a closed subscriber group CSG cell of the UE.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE and can select a more suitable transmissionpoint to communicate with the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the sending unit 1502 is furtherconfigured to send information about periodic CSI-RS feedbackconfiguration to the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the sending unit 1502 is furtherconfigured to send an identifier of the UE to N radio communicationnodes.

FIG. 16 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The radiocommunication node 102, the radio communication node 103 or the radiocommunication node 104 in FIG. 1 is an example of the radiocommunication node. The radio communication node 1600 in FIG. 16includes a receiving unit 1601 and a determining unit 1602.

The receiving unit 1601 is configured to receive information that isabout a fourth configuration parameter and sent by a base station or anOAM device.

The determining unit 1602 is configured to determine a fourthconfiguration parameter according to the information that is about thefourth configuration parameter and received by the receiving unit 1601.

The scheduling unit 1603 is configured to communicate with a UE byscheduling a radio resource in a first radio resource set.

The fourth configuration parameter includes a first radio resource setused for communication between a first radio communication node and auser equipment UE, and a radio resource in the first radio resource setincludes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource. Thefirst radio communication node is one of transmission points thatcommunicate with the UE, the UE communicates with the transmission pointby using a radio resource in a respective radio resource set of thetransmission point, respective radio resource sets of the transmissionpoints do not intersect, and the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points include the first radio resource set.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station sendsconfiguration information about a corresponding radio resource set usedfor communication with a UE to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. Radio resource sets usedby the base station and the radio communication node do not intersect orradio resource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes donot intersect. In addition, a radio resource in the radio resource setis used for a radio communication node corresponding to the radioresource set to schedule the UE. In this way, a radio communication nodeis capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is, has a resourcescheduling function, and a radio communication node, duringcommunication between a UE and a radio communication node, does not needto receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sent by thebase station to communicate with the UE, but communicates with the UE byscheduling a radio resource; therefore, a delay requirement on abackhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by thebase station and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

The radio communication node 1600 can implement operations related to aradio communication node in the embodiments in FIG. 9 to FIG. 10, whichis no longer described in detail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the fourth configuration parametermay further include at least one of the following: configuration of areference signal, configuration of a control channel, a correspondencebetween a radio resource and a radio bearer, a correspondence between aradio resource and an EPS bearer, scrambling code parameterconfiguration, node identifiers of N radio communication nodes, and CSIfeedback configuration of a periodic channel state information-referencesignal CSI-RS. The reference signal may include at least one of thefollowing: a CSI-RS, a DMRS, an SRS, and the like.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station sends an identifierof the UE to the first communication node. For example, the base stationcan carry the identifier of the UE in a second coordination requestmessage.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the second coordination requestmessage carries information about a fourth configuration parameterconfigured by the base station for communication between. the firstradio communication node and the UE.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 17, the radio communication node 1600 mayfurther include a sending unit 1604.

The receiving unit 1601 is specifically configured to receive theinformation that is about a fourth configuration parameter and sent bythe base station in the following manner: receiving, by the receivingunit 1601, a second coordination request message sent by the basestation, where the second coordination request message carries theinformation about a second configuration parameter configured by thebase station for communication between the first radio communicationnode and the UE.

The determining unit 1602 is specifically configured to determine afourth configuration parameter according to the information that isabout a fourth configuration parameter and received by the receivingunit 1601 in the following manner: determining the fourth configurationparameter according to the information about a fourth configurationparameter, where the information is carried in the second coordinationrequest message and received by the receiving unit 1601.

The sending unit 1604 is configured to send the information about afourth configuration parameter determined by the determining unit 1602to the base station.

The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides apparatusembodiments for implementing the steps and methods in the foregoingmethod embodiments. The embodiments of the present disclosure areapplicable to a user equipment, a base station or wireless communicationin various communication systems. FIG. 18 shows a device embodiment. Inthe embodiment, a device 1800 includes a transmitter 1802, a receiver1803, a power controller 1806, a decoding processor 1805, a processor1806, a memory 1807, and an antenna 1801. The processor 1806 controlsoperations of the device 1800. The processor 1806 can further bereferred to as a central processing unit CPU or a processor. The memory1807 can include a read-only memory and a random access memory, andprovide an instruction and data to the processor 1806. A part of thememory 1807 may further include a nonvolatile random access memory(NVRAM). In a specific application, the device 1800 can be inserted withor the device 1800 can be, for example, a radio communication devicesuch as a mobile phone, and may further include the transmitter 1802 andthe receiver 1803, so as to allow data transmission and receptionbetween the device 1800 and a remote position. The transmitter 1802 andthe receiver 1803 can be coupled to the antenna 1801. All components ofthe device 1800 are coupled by using a bus system 1810, where the bussystem 1810 includes, in addition to a data bus, a power supply bus, acontrol bus, and a state signal bus. However, for clear illustration,various buses are all marked as the bus system 1810 in the drawings. Thedevice 1800 may further include a processor 1806 configured to process asignal, and further include the power controller 1804 and the decodingprocessor 1805.

The foregoing methods disclosed in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may use the device 1800, or in other words, are mainlyimplemented by the processor 1806 and the receiver 1803 in the device1800. The processor 1806 may be an integrated circuit chip and has asignal processing capability. During the implementation, steps of theforegoing methods can be accomplished by using a hardware integratedlogic circuit or software instructions in the processor 1806. To executethe methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, theforegoing decoding processor may be a universal processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discretehardware assemblies. The methods, steps and logic block diagramsdisclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure can beimplemented or executed. A universal processor may be a microprocessoror the processor may also be any conventional processor, decoder, andthe like. The steps in the disclosed methods with reference to theembodiments of the present disclosure can be directly executed andcompleted by a hardware decoding processor, or are executed andcompleted by a combination of hardware and software modules in thedecoding processor. The software modules can be located in a maturestorage medium in the industry such a random memory, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electricallyerasable programmable memory and a register. The storage medium islocated at the memory 1807, and the decode unit reads information in thememory 1807 and completes the steps in the foregoing methods incombination with the hardware thereof.

Further, FIG. 19 is a structural block diagram of a base stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The base stationin this embodiment can execute the steps in the foregoing methodembodiments. The eNB 101 in FIG. 19 is an example of the base station.The base station in FIG. 19 includes a processor 1901 and a transmitter1902.

The processor 1901 is configured to determine first resourceconfiguration information, where the first resource configurationinformation is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with auser equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in eachradio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

The transmitter 1902 is configured to send the first resourceconfiguration information determined by the processor 1901 to the UE, sothat the UE communicates with the corresponding radio communication nodeby using the radio resource in the N radio resource sets, where the UEcommunicates with a corresponding transmission point by using arespective radio resource set of the transmission point, respectiveradio resource sets of the transmission points do not intersect, therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points include the Nradio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N radiocommunication nodes.

In the foregoing solution, the base station delivers to the UEconfiguration information of a radio resource set used by a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmission.Radio resource sets used by the base station and the radio communicationnode do not intersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality ofradio communication nodes do not intersect, and a radio resource in aradio resource set is used for a radio communication node correspondingto the radio resource set to schedule the UE. In this way, a radiocommunication node is capable of scheduling a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, and a radio communication node,during communication between a UE and a radio communication node, doesnot need to receive, by using a backhaul link, a scheduling command sentby the base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates withthe UE by scheduling a radio resource; therefore a delay requirement ona backhaul link is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used by thebase station and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect; therefore, interference is avoided.

The base station 1900 can implement operations related to a base stationin the embodiments in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, which is no longer described indetail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, the processor 1901 is further configured to control thetransmitter 1902 to communicate with the UE, where the respective radioresource sets of the transmission points further include a radioresource set used for communication between the UE and the base station.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmitter 1902 is furtherconfigured to: separately send corresponding information about a firstconfiguration parameter to N radio communication nodes, where the firstconfiguration parameter includes at least one of the following: a radioresource set, configuration of a reference signal, configuration of acontrol channel, a correspondence between a radio resource and a radiobearer, a correspondence between a radio resource and an EPS bearer,scrambling code parameter configuration, and node identifiers of N radiocommunication nodes.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmitter 1902 is furtherconfigured to: separately send a corresponding first coordinationrequest message to M1 radio communication nodes. The base station 1100further includes: a receiver 1903, configured to receive informationabout first configuration parameters determined and sent by M2 radiocommunication nodes among the M1 radio communication nodes according tothe first coordination request message, where the details of the firstconfiguration parameter are referred to the description in the foregoingembodiments. The processor 1901 is further configured to determine Nradio communication nodes among the M2 radio communication nodes, whereM1 and M2 are positive integers and M1≥M2≥N.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the receiver 1903 is furtherconfigured to receive information that is about first configurationparameters of L radio communication nodes and sent by an OAM device. Theprocessor 1901 is further configured to: determine N radio communicationnodes among the L radio communication nodes, where L is a positiveinteger and L≥N.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used for communication betweena transmission point that participates in multiple points transmissionand a UE do not intersect, and a scheduler in a base station or a radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmissionschedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource, for example, sendsdownlink data to the UE accurately based on the moment scheduled by eachscheduler. In this way, interference can be effectively eliminated. Inaddition, multiple points transmission is performed for the UE, so thata throughput of the UE can be effectively increased.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosuredoes not limit the first configuration parameter coordination manneramong the transmission points, that is, any first configurationparameter coordination manner is applicable to the scope of theembodiment of the present disclosure.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the processor 1901 is furtherconfigured to: determine N radio communication nodes according to ameasurement report sent by the UE, where the measurement report includesat least one of the following: signal strength of at least N radiocommunication nodes and signal quality of at least N radio communicationnodes; or is further configured to: determine N radio communicationnodes according to a moving speed of the UE, load of the N radiocommunication nodes, a quality of service QoS parameter of the UE,and/or service information of the UE; or is further configured to:determine N radio communication nodes according to a stored accessrecord of the UE, where the access record includes an access frequencyof the UE and/or a closed subscriber group CSG cell of the UE.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE and can select a more suitable transmissionpoint to communicate with the UE.

Optionally, the transmitter 1902 is further configured to: send to theUE at least one of the following information: first identifierinformation, instruction information, second identifier information,third identifier information, and information about scrambling codeparameter configuration. The details are referred to the description inthe foregoing embodiments.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the processor 1901 is furtherconfigured to control the transmitter 1902 and/or the receiver 1903 toestablish a radio resource control RRC connection with the UE. Thetransmitter 1902 is further configured to: separately send a connectionconfiguration parameter of the UE to the UE and N radio communicationnodes, where the connection configuration parameter is used for the UEto separately establish a user plane connection with the N radiocommunication nodes, and the connection configuration parameter at leastincludes a physical layer configuration parameter and a medium accesscontrol MAC layer configuration parameter.

Preferably, a base station sends and receives RRC signaling or an SRB(specifically, the base station and the UE can perform transmissiondirectly or by means of a radio communication node), so as to keep anRRC connection of the UE at a macro base station. When a UE crosses acoverage boundary of radio communication nodes under the coverage of thebase station, the RRC connection is always kept at the base station;therefore, a handover is avoided and the number of handovers is reduced.

Therefore, the base station or the radio communication node and the UEtransmit data on an aggregated time domain resource (for example, a timeslot or subframe), or, the base station or the radio communication nodeand the UE transmit data on an aggregated frequency domain resource (forexample, a physical resource block PRB). In this way, a throughput of aUE can be effectively increased.

FIG. 20 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The radiocommunication node in this embodiment can execute the steps in theforegoing method embodiments. The radio communication node 102, theradio communication node 103 or the radio communication node 104 in FIG.1 is an example of the radio communication node. The radio communicationnode 2000 in FIG. 20 includes a receiver 2001 and a processor 2002.

The receiver 2001 is configured to receive information that is about asecond configuration parameter and sent by a base station or an QAMdevice.

The processor 2002 is configured to:

-   -   determine a second configuration parameter according to the        information that is about a second configuration parameter and        received by the receiver 2001, where the second configuration        parameter includes a first radio resource set used for        communication between a first radio communication node and a        user equipment UE, and a radio resource in the first radio        resource set includes a time domain resource and/or a frequency        domain resource; and    -   communicate with the UE by scheduling the radio resource in the        first radio resource set, where the first radio communication        node is one of transmission points that communicate with the UE,        the UE communicates with the transmission point by using a radio        resource in a respective radio resource set of the transmission        point, respective radio resource sets of the transmission points        do not intersect, and the respective radio resource sets of the        transmission points include the first radio resource set.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used by a base station and aradio communication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used bya plurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect, and the basestation or radio communication node that participates in. multiplepoints transmission schedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource.In this way, as a radio communication node is capable of scheduling aradio resource, that is, has a resource scheduling function, and a radiocommunication node, during communication between a UE and a radiocommunication node, does not need to receive, by using a backhaul link,a scheduling command sent by the base station to communicate with theUE, but communicates with the UE by scheduling a radio resource;therefore a delay requirement on a backhaul link is lowered. Inaddition, radio resource sets used by the base station and the radiocommunication node do not intersect or radio resource sets used by aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect; therefore,interference is avoided.

The radio communication node 2000 can implement operations related to aradio communication node in the embodiments in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, whichis no longer described in detail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 21., the radio communication node 2000 mayfurther include a transmitter 2003.

The receiver 2001 is specifically configured to receive the informationthat is about a second configuration parameter and sent by the basestation in the following manner: receiving a first coordination requestmessage sent by the base station, where the first coordination requestmessage carries the information about a second configuration parameterconfigured by the base station for communication between the first radiocommunication node and the UE.

The processor 2002 is specifically configured to determine a secondconfiguration parameter according to the information that is about asecond configuration parameter and received by the receiver 2001 in thefollowing manner: determining the second configuration parameteraccording to the information about a second configuration parameter,where the information is carried in the first coordination requestmessage and received by the receiver 2001.

The transmitter 2003 is configured to send the information about asecond configuration parameter determined by the processor 2002 to thebase station.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the receiver 2001 is further configured toreceive a connection configuration parameter of the UE sent by the basestation, where the connection configuration parameter at least includesa physical layer configuration parameter and a MAC layer configurationparameter. The processor 2101 is further configured to: control thereceiver 2001 and/or the transmitter 2003 to establish a user planeconnection with the UE according to the connection configurationparameter.

FIG. 22 is a structural block diagram of a user equipment according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure. The user equipment in thisembodiment can execute the steps in the foregoing method embodiments.The UE 105 or the UE 106 in FIG 1 is an example of the user equipment.The user equipment 2200 in FIG. 22 includes a receiver 2201 and aprocessor 2202.

The UE can have one or more MAC entities. Preferably, the UE has aplurality of MAC entities, and each MAC entity performs schedulingduring communication between the UE and one transmission point. Itshould be understood that the embodiment of the present disclosure doesnot limit this.

The receiver 2201 is configured to receive first resource configurationinformation sent by a base station.

The processor 2202 is configured to:

-   -   acquire the first resource configuration information received by        the receiver 2201, where the first resource configuration        information is used for indicating N radio resource sets that        are used when N radio communication nodes separately perform        communication with a user equipment UE, N is a positive integer,        a radio resource in each radio resource set among the N radio        resource sets is used for the radio communication node        corresponding to each radio resource set to schedule the UE, and        the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or a        frequency domain resource; and    -   control the receiver 2201 to communicate with a transmission        point by using a radio resource in a respective radio resource        set of the transmission point, where respective radio resource        sets of the transmission points do not intersect, the respective        radio resource sets of the transmission points include the N        radio resource sets, and the transmission points include the N        radio communication nodes.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a UE receives configurationinformation that is delivered by a base station and about radio resourcesets used by radio communication nodes that participate in multiplepoints transmission. Radio resource sets used by the base station andthe radio communication node do not intersect or radio resource setsused by a plurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect, and aradio resource in a radio resource set is used for a radio communicationnode corresponding to the radio resource set to schedule the UE. In thisway, a radio communication node is capable of scheduling a radioresource, that is, has a resource scheduling function, and a radiocommunication node, during communication between a UE and a radiocommunication node, does not need to receive, by using a backhaul link,a scheduling command sent by the base station to communicate with theUE, but the radio communication node schedules a radio resource tocommunicate with the UE; therefore, a delay requirement on a backhaullink is lowered. In addition, radio resource sets used when a UEcommunicates with a base station and a radio communication node do notintersect or radio resource sets used when a UE communicates with aplurality of radio communication nodes do not intersect; therefore,interference is avoided.

The user equipment 2200 can implement operations related to a userequipment in the embodiments in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, which is no longerdescribed in detail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the user equipment 2200 further includes:a transmitter 2203, configured to send a measurement report to the basestation, so that the base station determines the N radio communicationnodes according to the measurement report. The measurement report atleast includes one of the following: signal strength of at least N radiocommunication nodes and signal quality of the at least N radiocommunication nodes.

Therefore, the base station in the embodiment of the present disclosuredetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE according to the measurement report sent by theTIE and can select a more suitable transmission point to communicatewith the UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the receiver 2201 is further configured toreceive first identifier information sent by the base station. Theprocessor 2202 is further configured to identify correspondences betweenN radio resource sets and reference signals used by the N radiocommunication nodes according to the first identifier information;and/or, the receiver 2201 is further configured to receive instructioninformation sent by the base station, and receive a correspondingcontrol channel by using the instruction information according to thetype of a control channel of the base station or the radio communicationnode; and/or, the receiver 2201 is further configured to receive secondidentifier information sent by the base station, and the processor 2202is further configured to map data of the transmission channel, radiobearer or EPS bearer to a corresponding radio resource according to thesecond identifier information, or map data acquired from the radioresource to a corresponding transmission channel, radio bearer or EPSbearer according to the second identifier information; and/or, thereceiver 2201 is further configured to receive third identifierinformation sent by the base station, and the processor 2202 is furtherconfigured to identify the base station and the N radio communicationnodes according to the third identifier information; and/or, thereceiver 2201 is further configured to receive information aboutscrambling code parameter configuration sent by the base station, andthe processor 2202 is further configured to separately descramble adownlink reference signal or a downlink physical channel of the basestation and/or the N radio communication nodes according to theinformation about scrambling code parameter configuration, and/orseparately scramble an uplink reference signal or an uplink physicalchannel of the base station and/or the N radio communication nodesaccording to the information about scrambling code parameterconfiguration.

In addition, data sent by a UE to the base station or a radiocommunication node may be not modulated and encoded, and therefore, asize of a data packet is not increased. Therefore, a bandwidthrequirement on a backhaul link is also lowered.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the processor 2202 is furtherconfigured to establish a radio resource control RRC connection with thebase station, and separately establish a user plane connection with theN radio communication nodes according to the connection configurationparameter of the UE sent by the base station, where the connectionconfiguration parameter at least includes a physical layer configurationparameter and a MAC layer configuration parameter.

Optionally, the base station sends and receives RRC signaling or an SRB(specifically, the base station and the UE can perform transmissiondirectly or perform transmission by using the radio communication node),so as to keep an RRC connection of the UE at a macro base station. Whena UE crosses a coverage boundary of radio communication nodes undercoverage of the base station, as the RRC connection is always kept atthe base station, a handover is avoided and the number of handovers islowered.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the radio communication node canperform segmentation processing, according to segmentation informationfed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the first radiocommunication node, on transmission data at the RLC entity of the radiocommunication node.

Therefore, the base station or the radio communication node and the UEperform data transmission on an aggregated time domain resource (forexample, a time slot or subframe), or, the base station or the radiocommunication node and the UE perform data transmission on an aggregatedfrequency domain resource (for example, a physical resource block PRB).Therefore, a throughput of the UE can be effectively increased.

FIG. 23 is a structural block diagram of a base station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The base station can execute stepsin the foregoing method embodiments. The eNB 101 in FIG. 1 is an exampleof the base station in this embodiment. The base station in FIG. 23includes a processor 2301 and a transmitter 2302.

The processor 2301 is configured to determine first resourceconfiguration information, where the first resource configurationinformation is used for indicating N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with auser equipment UE, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in eachradio resource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource includes a time domain resource and/or afrequency domain resource.

The transmitter 2302 is configured to separately send configurationinformation of a corresponding radio resource set among the N radioresource sets to the N radio communication nodes, so that the N radiocommunication nodes schedule radio resources in respective radioresource sets to communicate with the UE.

The UE communicates with a corresponding transmission point by usingrespective radio resource sets of transmission points, where therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points do notintersect, the respective radio resource sets of the transmission pointsinclude the N radio resource sets, and the transmission points includethe N radio communication nodes. Of course, the transmission points inthe embodiment of the present disclosure may further include a smallstation that does not have a radio resource scheduling function toparticipate in multiple points transmission, for example, an RRH.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station sendsconfiguration information about a corresponding radio resource set usedfor communication with a UE to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. Radio resource sets usedby the base station and the radio communication node do not intersect orradio resource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes donot intersect. In addition, a radio resource in the radio resource setis used for a radio communication node corresponding to the radioresource set to schedule the UE. Therefore, as a radio communicationnode can schedule a radio resource, that is, has a resource schedulingfunction, during communication between the UE and the radiocommunication node, the radio communication node does not need toreceive, through a backhaul link, a scheduling command sent by the basestation to communicate with the UE, but communicates with the UE byscheduling a radio resource, thereby lowering a delay requirement on abackhaul link. In addition, as radio resource sets used by the basestation and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect, interference is avoided.

The base station 2300 can implement operations related to a base stationin the embodiments in FIG. 9 to FIG. 10, which is no longer described indetail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, the processor 2301 is further configured to control thetransmitter 2302 to communicate with the UE, where the base station isone of the transmission points, and the respective radio resource setsof the transmission points further include a radio resource set used forcommunication between the UE and the base station.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmitter 2302 is furtherconfigured to: separately send to the N radio communication nodes atleast one of the corresponding following parameters: configuration of areference signal, configuration of a control channel, a mapping betweena radio resource and a radio bearer, a correspondence between a radioresource and an EPS bearer, scrambling code parameter configuration,node identifiers of N radio communication nodes, and periodic CSIfeedback configuration that is based on a channel stateinformation-reference signal CSI-RS and is of the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmitter 2302 is furtherconfigured to send a corresponding second coordination request messageto M1 radio communication nodes separately. The base station 2300further includes: a receiver 2303, configured to receive informationabout a third configuration parameter determined and sent by M2 radiocommunication nodes among the M1 radio communication nodes according tothe second coordination request message. The processor 2301 is furtherconfigured to determine the N radio communication nodes among the M2radio communication nodes, where M1 and M2 are positive integers andM1≥M2≥N.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the receiver 2303 is configured toreceive the information that is about the third configuration parameterof L radio communication nodes and sent by an OAM. device. The processor2301 is further configured to determine the N radio communication nodesamong the L radio communication nodes, where L is a positive integer andL≥N.

For the third configuration parameter, reference may be made to thedescription in the foregoing embodiments.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, radio resources arecoordinated, so that radio resource sets used when a transmission pointthat participates in multiple points transmission communicates with a UEdo not intersect, and a scheduler in the base station or the radiocommunication node that participates in multiple points transmissionschedules the UE on a corresponding radio resource, for example,downlink data is sent to the UE accurately according to time scheduledby each scheduler. Therefore, interference can be effectivelyeliminated. In addition, the UE adopts multiple points transmission, sothat a throughput of the UE can be effectively increased.

It should be understood that a coordination manner for a firstconfiguration parameter among the transmission points is not limited inthe embodiment of the present disclosure, that is, any manner forcoordination of the first configuration parameter can be applied to thescope of the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the processor 2301 is furtherconfigured to: determine the N radio communication nodes according to ameasurement report sent by the UE, where the measurement report includesat least one of the following: signal strength of at least N radiocommunication nodes and signal quality of the at least N radiocommunication nodes; or is further configured to: determine the N radiocommunication nodes according to a moving speed of the UE, load of the Nradio communication nodes, a quality of service QoS parameter of the UE,and/or service information of the UE; or is further configured to:determine the N radio communication nodes according to a stored accessrecord of the UE, where the access record includes an access frequencyof the UE and/or a closed subscriber group CSG cell of the UE.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the base stationdetermines a radio communication node that performs multiple pointstransmission for the UE and can select a more suitable transmissionpoint to communicate with the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmitter 2302 is furtherconfigured to send information about periodic CSI-RS feedbackconfiguration to the UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmitter 2302 is furtherconfigured to send an identifier of the UE to the N radio communicationnodes.

FIG. 24 is a structural block diagram of a radio communication nodeaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The radiocommunication node can execute steps in the foregoing methodembodiments. The radio communication node 102, the radio communicationnode 103 or the radio communication node 104 in FIG. 1 is an example ofthe radio communication node. A radio communication node 2400 in FIG. 24includes a receiver 2401 and a processor 2402.

The receiver 2401 is configured to receive information that is about afourth configuration parameter and sent by a base station or an OAMdevice.

The processor 2402 is configured to:

-   -   determine a fourth configuration parameter according to the        information that is about the fourth configuration parameter and        received by the receiver 2401, where the fourth configuration        parameter includes a first radio resource set used for        communication between a first radio communication node and a        user equipment UE, a radio resource in the first radio resource        set includes a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain        resource, and the radio resource in the first radio resource set        is used for the first radio communication node to schedule the        UE; and    -   schedule the radio resource in the first radio resource set to        communicate with the UE, where the first radio communication        node is one of transmission points that communicate with the UE,        the UE communicates with the transmission points by using a        radio resource in the respective radio resource sets of        transmission points, the respective radio resource sets of the        transmission points do not intersect, and the respective radio        resource sets of the transmission points include the first radio        resource set.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station sendsconfiguration information about a corresponding radio resource set usedfor communication with a UE to a radio communication node thatparticipates in multiple points transmission. The radio resource setsused by the base station and the radio communication node do notintersect or radio resource sets used by a plurality of radiocommunication nodes do not intersect. In addition, a radio resource inthe radio resource set is used for a radio communication nodecorresponding to the radio resource set to schedule the UE. Therefore,as a radio communication node can schedule a radio resource, that is,has a resource scheduling function, during communication between the UEand the radio communication node, the radio communication node does notneed to receive, through a backhaul link, a scheduling command sent bythe base station to communicate with the UE, but communicates with theUE by scheduling a radio resource, thereby lowering a delay requirementon a backhaul link. In addition, as radio resource sets used by the basestation and the radio communication node do not intersect or radioresource sets used by a plurality of radio communication nodes do notintersect, interference is avoided.

The radio communication node 2400 can implement operations related tothe radio communication node in the embodiments in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10,which is no longer described in detail to avoid repetition.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the fourth configuration parametermay further include at least one of the following: configuration of areference signal, configuration of a control channel, a correspondencebetween a radio resource and a radio bearer, a correspondence between aradio resource and an EPS bearer, scrambling code parameterconfiguration, node identifiers of N radio communication nodes, andperiodic CSI feedback configuration that is based on a channel stateinformation-reference signal CSI-RS and is of the UE. The referencesignal may include at least one of the following: a CSI-RS, a DMRS, anSRS, and the like.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the base station sends an identifierof the UE to the first communication node. For example, the base stationcan carry the identifier of the UE in a second coordination requestmessage.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the second coordination requestmessage carries information about a fourth configuration parameterconfigured by the base station for communication between a first radiocommunication node and a UE.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the radio communication node canperform segmentation processing, according to segmentation informationfed back to an RLC entity by a MAC entity of the first radiocommunication node, on transmission data at an RLC entity of the radiocommunication node.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 25, the radio communication node 2400 inthis embodiment may further include a transmitter 2403.

The receiver 2401 is specifically configured to receive the informationthat is about a fourth configuration parameter and sent by the basestation in the following manner: receiving, by the receiver 2401, asecond coordination request message sent by the base station, where thesecond coordination request message carries the information about asecond configuration parameter configured by the base station forcommunication between the first radio communication node and the UE.

The processor 2402 is specifically configured to determine the fourthconfiguration parameter according to the information that is about thefourth configuration parameter and received by the receiver 2401 in thefollowing manner: determining the fourth configuration parameteraccording to the information about the fourth configuration parameter,where the information is carried in the second coordination requestmessage and received by the receiver 2401.

The transmitter 2403 is configured to send to the base station theinformation about the fourth configuration parameter determined by theprocessor 2402.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that, in combinationwith the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in thisspecification, units and algorithm steps may be implemented byelectronic hardware, or a combination of computer software andelectronic hardware. Whether the functions are performed by hardware orsoftware depends on particular applications and design constraintconditions of the technical solutions. A person skilled in the art mayuse different methods to implement the described functions for each.particular application, but it should not be considered that theimplementation goes beyond the scope of the present disclosure.

It may be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art that, forthe purpose of convenient and brief description, a detailed workingprocess of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit may refer to thecorresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and thedetails will not be described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, itshould be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and methodmay be implemented in other manners. For example, the describedapparatus embodiment is merely exemplary. For example, the unit divisionis merely logical function division and may be other division in actualimplementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may becombined or integrated into another system, or some features may beignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutualcouplings or direct couplings or communication connections may beimplemented through some interfaces. The indirect couplings orcommunication connections between the apparatuses or units may beimplemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physicallyseparate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units,may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality ofnetwork units. A part or all of the units may be selected according toactual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of theembodiments.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of theunits may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integratedinto one unit.

When the functions are implemented in a form of a software functionalunit and sold or used as an independent product, the functions may bestored in a computer to readable storage medium. Based on such anunderstanding, the technical solutions of the present disclosureessentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or a part of thetechnical solutions may be implemented in a form of a software product.The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, andincludes several instructions for instructing a computer device (whichmay be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to performall or a part of the steps of the methods described in the embodimentsof the present disclosure. The foregoing storage medium includes: anymedium that can store program codes, such as a USB flash disk, aremovable hard disk, a read to only memory (ROM), a random access memory(RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The foregoing descriptions are merely specific embodiments of thepresent disclosure, but are not intended to limit the protection scopeof the present disclosure. Any variation or replacement readily figuredout by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosedin the present disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of thepresent disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the presentdisclosure shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprisinginstructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer tocarry out operations including: receiving first resource configurationinformation sent from a base station, wherein the first resourceconfiguration information indicates N radio resource sets that are usedwhen N radio communication nodes separately perform communication with aterminal device, N is a positive integer, a radio resource in each radioresource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe terminal device, and the radio resource comprises at least one of atime domain resource or a frequency domain resource; and communicatingwith a corresponding transmission point by using a radio resource inrespective radio resource sets of transmission points, wherein therespective radio resource sets of the transmission points do notintersect, the respective radio resource sets of the transmission pointscomprise the N radio resource sets, and the transmission points comprisethe N radio communication nodes.
 2. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium according to claim 1, wherein before the receiving firstresource configuration information, the instructions which, whenexecuted by a computer, further cause the computer to carry outoperations including: establishing a radio resource control (RRC)connection with the base station; and establishing a user planeconnection with the N radio communication nodes separately according toa connection configuration parameter of the UE sent by the base station,wherein the connection configuration parameter comprises a physicallayer configuration parameter and a medium access control (MAC) layerconfiguration parameter.
 3. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium according to claim 1, wherein the transmission points furthercomprise the base station, and the radio resource sets used by theterminal device further comprise a radio resource set used forcommunication between the terminal device and the base station.
 4. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1,the instructions which, when executed by a computer, further cause thecomputer to carry out operations including at least one of following:receiving first identifier information from the base station, andidentifying correspondences between the N radio resource sets andreference signals used by the N radio communication nodes according tothe first identifier information; or receiving instruction informationfrom the base station, and receiving a corresponding control channel byusing the instruction information according to a type of a controlchannel of the base station or a radio communication node; or receivingsecond identifier information from the base station, and mapping data ofa transmission channel, a radio bearer or an evolved packet switch (EPS)bearer to the corresponding radio resources of the N radio resource setsaccording to the second identifier information, or mapping data acquiredfrom the radio resources of the N radio resource sets to a correspondingtransmission channel, radio bearer or EPS bearer according to the secondidentifier information; or receiving third identifier information fromthe base station, and identifying the base station and the N radiocommunication nodes according to the third identifier information; orreceiving information about scrambling code parameter configuration fromthe base station, descrambling a downlink reference signal or a downlinkphysical channel according to the information about scrambling codeparameter configuration, or scrambling an uplink reference signal or anuplink physical channel according to the information about scramblingcode parameter configuration, wherein the downlink reference signal, thedownlink physical channel, the uplink reference signal, and the uplinkphysical channel belong to the base station or at least one of the Nradio communication nodes.
 5. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium according to claim 4, wherein after the identifyingcorrespondences between the N radio resource sets and reference signalsused by the N radio communication nodes according to the firstidentifier information, the instructions which, when executed by acomputer, further cause the computer to carry out operations includingat least of one of the following: measuring, by the terminal device, adownlink reference signal on a corresponding downlink radio resource orsending a corresponding uplink reference signal on a correspondinguplink radio resource according to the correspondences; or performing,by the terminal device, channel measurement according to the referencesignals, and separately sending a measurement result to the N radiocommunication nodes on corresponding radio resources according to thecorrespondences; or performing, by the terminal device, channelestimation on the corresponding radio resources separately by using thereference signals according to the correspondences, and performingdecoding on the corresponding radio resources according to a channelestimation result.
 6. A communication system, comprises a base stationand a communication node, wherein the base station comprises: a firststorage medium including processor-executable instructions; and at leastone first processor coupled to the first storage medium; wherein theprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least onefirst processor, cause the base station to: determine first resourceconfiguration information, wherein the first resource configurationinformation indicates N radio resource sets that are used when N radiocommunication nodes separately perform communication with a userequipment (UE), N is a positive integer, a radio resource in each radioresource set among the N radio resource sets is used for the radiocommunication node corresponding to each radio resource set to schedulethe UE, and the radio resource comprises at least one of a time domainresource or a frequency domain resource; and send the first resourceconfiguration information to the UE; the communication node comprises: asecond storage medium including processor-executable instructions; andat least one second processor coupled to the second storage medium;wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the atleast one second processor, cause the communication node to: receive thefirst resource configuration information from the base station;determine a second configuration parameter according to the firstresource configuration information, wherein the second configurationparameter comprises a first radio resource set used for communicationbetween the radio communication node and the UE, and a radio resource inthe first radio resource set comprises at least one of a time domainresource or a frequency domain resource; and schedule the radio resourcein the first radio resource set to communicate with the UE, wherein theradio communication node is one of transmission points that communicatewith the UE, the UE communicates with the transmission points by using aradio resource in the respective radio resource sets of the transmissionpoints, the respective radio resource sets of the transmission points donot intersect, and the respective radio resource sets of thetransmission points comprise the first radio resource set.
 7. Thecommunication system according to claim 6, wherein the respective radioresource sets of the transmission points further comprise a radioresource set used for communication between the UE and the base station.8. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein theprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least onefirst processor, cause the base station to: send to the UE at least onepiece of the following information: first identifier information,instruction information, second identifier information, third identifierinformation, or information about scrambling code parameterconfiguration, wherein the first identifier information indicatescorrespondences between the N radio resource sets and reference signalsused by the N radio communication nodes, the instruction informationinstructs the UE to receive a corresponding control channel according toa type of a control channel of the base station or radio communicationnode, the second identifier information indicates correspondencesbetween the N radio resource sets and transmission channels and betweenthe N radio resource sets and radio bearers or evolved packet switch(EPS) bearers in the N radio resource sets, the third identifierinformation indicates identifiers of the base station and the N radiocommunication nodes, the information about scrambling code parameterconfiguration is instructs the UE to descramble a downlink referencesignal or a downlink physical channel, or instructs the UE to scramblean uplink reference signal or an uplink physical channel; and thedownlink reference signal, the downlink physical channel, the uplinkreference signal, and the uplink physical channel belong to the basestation or the N radio communication nodes.
 9. The communication systemaccording to claim 6, wherein the processor-executable instructions,when executed by the at least one first processor, cause the basestation to: send corresponding information about a first configurationparameter to each radio communication node among the N radiocommunication nodes, wherein the first configuration parameter comprisesat least one of the following: the radio resource set corresponding toeach radio communication node, configuration of a reference signal,configuration of a control channel, a correspondence between the radioresource and a radio bearer, a correspondence between the radio resourceand an EPS bearer, scrambling code parameter configuration, or a nodeidentifier corresponding to each radio communication node.
 10. Thecommunication system according to claim 6, wherein theprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least onefirst processor, cause the base station to: send a corresponding firstcoordination request message to M1 radio communication nodes separately;receive information about a first configuration parameter determined andsent by M2 radio communication nodes among the M1 radio communicationnodes according to the first coordination request message, wherein thereceived first configuration parameter comprises at least one of thefollowing: a radio resource set of a radio communication nodecorresponding to the received first configuration parameter,configuration of a reference signal, configuration of a control channel,a correspondence between a radio resource of a radio communication nodecorresponding to the received first configuration parameter and a radiobearer, a correspondence between the radio resource in the radioresource set of the radio communication node corresponding to thereceived first configuration parameter and an EPS bearer, scramblingcode parameter configuration, or a node identifier of the radiocommunication node corresponding to the received first configurationparameter; and determine the N radio communication nodes among the M2radio communication nodes, wherein M1 and M2 are positive integers andM1≥M2≥N.
 11. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein theprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least onefirst processor, cause the base station to: receive information that isabout a first configuration parameter of L radio communication nodes andsent by an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) device,wherein the first configuration parameter comprises at least one of thefollowing: a radio resource set corresponding to the L radiocommunication nodes, configuration of a reference signal, configurationof a control channel, a correspondence between a radio source in theradio resource set corresponding to the L radio communication nodes anda radio bearer, a correspondence between the radio source in the radioresource set corresponding to the L radio communication nodes and an EPSbearer, scrambling code parameter configuration, or node identifiers ofthe L radio communication nodes; and determine the N radio communicationnodes among the L radio communication nodes, wherein L is a positiveinteger and L≥N.
 12. The communication system according to claim 6,wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the atleast one first processor, cause the base station to: determine the Nradio communication nodes according to a measurement report sent by theUE, wherein the measurement report comprises at least one of thefollowing: signal strength of the at least N radio communication nodesor signal quality of the at least N radio communication nodes; ordetermine the N radio communication nodes according to one or more of amoving speed of the UE, load of the N radio communication nodes, aquality of service (QoS) parameter of the UE, or service information ofthe UE; or determine the N radio communication nodes according to astored access record of the UE, wherein the access record comprises atleast one of an access frequency of the UE or a closed subscriber group(CSG) cell of the UE.
 13. The communication system according to claim 6,wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the atleast one first processor, cause the base station to: establish a radioresource control RRC connection with the UE; and send a connectionconfiguration parameter of the UE to the UE and the N radiocommunication nodes separately, wherein the connection configurationparameter is used for the UE to establish a user plane connection withthe N radio communication nodes separately, and the connectionconfiguration parameter comprises at least one of a physical layerconfiguration parameter or a medium access control (MAC) layerconfiguration parameter.